


Partners-But-Not-Really

by until_monday



Category: Heroes For Hire (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Power Man and Iron Fist (Comics), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Case Fic, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Nightwing Restorations, Slow Build, mentions of past Danny/omc, one-sided (mostly)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-02-09 18:19:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12893970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/until_monday/pseuds/until_monday
Summary: Something was off about the kid. Quite a lot, in fact.A take on how Luke and Danny eventually become Heroes for Hire. Canon is a mixture of the Netflix series and comic books.





	1. Just Some Skinny White Kid

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a continuation to Netflix's Defenders, but the canon is drawn mostly from the comic books (I confess I've seen neither Netflix's Luke Cage nor Iron Fist for example). Sort of trying to fit the tv show into the 70's comics and then fitting that to present day. I hope you can bear with the messy canon and enjoy the fic!

They were sitting in a circle on the floor of Danny’s living room, unwinding and apparently celebrating. Danny? Iron Fist? What was the correct way to address people in a situation like this? “The Immortal Iron Fist”, Danny had introduced himself to Luke. Something was off about the kid. Quite a lot, in fact.

“Are you even old enough to drink, junior?” Jessica asked as she passed Danny another beer.

“Dude, I’m totally legal,” Danny said. Jessica almost choked on her drink and Luke laughed as well.

“That’s not what that means,” Matt said. Even he was smiling. Danny laughed as if he had told a joke, but was obviously confused.

“Should we do some kind of a toast?” he then asked. “Our first real gig together.”

“The Hand wasn’t real?”

“This time we were an actual team,” Danny insisted. Luke had to admit he felt pretty good. Their team-but-not-really had gotten together at an unexpected request from Matt. He had been involved with a would-be-supervillain who himself hadn’t been too much trouble, but to get to him Matt had needed some assistance. And they had done well.

“Alright, alright. To four random people who happened to work together,” Jessica said. They all raised their drinks and at Jessica’s “Bottoms up!” drained them.

“Okay, I’m officially out of whisky which means I’m out as well,” Jessica said after that and stood up. “But see you guys around. I’m still not back in this whole superhero shit, but if you need me, I can try to make time for you.” She grabbed a beer and walked out. Luke got up as well, his knees cracking as he did so. He may not be old as in _old_ , old, but sitting on floor for two hours straight might be something he should not do anymore.

“Jess, wait.” Luke caught up with Jessica outside and walked with her a couple of blocks. Then he stopped and touched her arm gently.

“It was good seeing you,” he said.

“Likewise,” Jessica replied and spared him a rare, admittedly drunken smile. “You think something’s really gonna come out of this?”

“Like a real superhero team? I don’t know.”

“Would you like it to?” Luke found that a strange question or at least the way Jessica said it.

“You know I don’t like to fight,” he said. “I just want to keep my neighbourhood safe and its kids out of trouble.”

“A grassroot superhero?”

“Something like that.”

“Sounds alright to me.”

“What about you?” Jessica thought for a moment and then shrugged.

“You know where to reach me.”

“Good night, Jess.”

 

When Luke returned inside he found Matt gone.

“He said he has to work early,” Danny explained. He had moved onto the couch with a bag of chips. “There’s still some beer left. Care to help me finish them? We could watch television. Or play something. I’ve got a lot of video games.”

Luke looked at said television and video games. All of them were still in their packages. He had noticed the same trend in other rooms as well. The whole Rand residence was full of unopened boxes as if someone was either moving in or out.

“You’ve got all this stuff, man, but you haven’t even opened them?” Luke said. Danny looked suddenly awkward.

“I haven’t really known what to do with them.”

“Why’d you buy them in the first place then?”

“I figured it was something people did.”

It was, Luke thought. And Danny certainly had the money for everything a guy his age might want. Trouble seemed to be he didn’t know what a guy his age was supposed to want. Luke had had the exact opposite problem when he had been younger. This was where he was reminded that Danny had spent his late childhood and whole teenage in a mystical city in another dimension. From what Luke had understood, Danny had been back in the real world barely two years, most of which had been spent chasing after the Hand.

“How about just tv?” Luke asked. “At least that’s fast to plug in.”

Turned out it wasn’t. Luke and Danny spent over half an hour on it, but the only channels they got to work were in Spanish. In the end, they let the television stay on in the background while they played cards.

“Who taught you to say ‘dude’?” Luke asked after he had beaten Danny in poker several times in a row.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been wondering about that. You’ve used it a few times. I doubt they said that in K’un Loon.”

“K’un Lun.”

“K’un Lun. Who taught you that?”

“This one guy,” Danny said and shifted on the couch. Luke raised an eyebrow. “I, uh, met this guy at a bar,” Danny continued. “We saw a few times after that. He thought it was funny how there’s a lot of things I don’t understand. But he was nice about it. I explained I’d spent a decade elsewhere so he showed me around the city and stuff.”

“Stuff,” Luke repeated.

“Want me to specify?”

“Not really. How old was this guy?”

“Older than me, but not cradle-robbing.”

“He teach you that one as well?”

“Can we just play cards?”

They continued playing, but Luke got tired of winning every time. His intention was to head home, but then he found himself watching the Spanish television with Danny. Neither of them understood but a word here and there, but Danny started dubbing the dialogue with random lines that made Luke laugh.

Luke ended up staying at Danny’s until 2am.

“You could just spend the night here. I’ve got three spare bedrooms,” Danny said, leaning against the door frame as Luke put on his jacket.

“I don’t sleep well in foreign places. But thanks.”

“See you around then, I guess.”

“See you around.”

 

* * *

 

Two weeks passed without any contact from the others.

 _You could have called_ , Jessica had said before. Luke could have. He still could. But things between them had been left so confusing that he wasn’t able to bring himself to type her number. Claire, however, told him that Jessica was doing alright. Still drinking too much, but keeping her detective agency open.

According to rumours, Matt was running around in Hell’s Kitchen in the Daredevil costume once more, keeping the area safe. Luke had no means of contacting the man save from randomly appearing at his doorstep, and he didn’t know what he’d say anyway. But he was glad to know that Matt was back in the hero business. Luke did his duty in Harlem, though lately that had mostly included knocking together the heads of kids who’d taken to stealing purses.

Of Danny, Luke heard nothing. There was one tabloid headline of boy millionaire Daniel Rand’s charity work, but that was all.

After two weeks, however, it was Luke’s turn to ask for assistance. He texted Jessica, visited Matt’s loft, and called Danny. The team-but-not-really was gathered together within three hours.

 

Danny shivered in the chilly February night. Matt was crouching by the edge of the roof in silence, focused on what was going on below them.

“Four in the alley, two of them armed, and six inside, possibly also armed,” he said. “And one at both ends of the alley. Danny,” he then said, turning to him, “what’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

“You’re nervous and I doubt it’s these people. According to Luke, they’re just regular drug smugglers.”

“Oh,” Danny said, grateful that Matt wasn’t able to see his face which he could feel heating. The man would find out once they met up with Jessica and Luke. Especially Jessica. Speaking of the devil, sudden ruckus from down below drew Danny’s attention. Jessica and Luke had made their entrance.

“If you don’t mind,” Matt said. Danny closed his eyes. He focused his energy, his _chi_ , directing it towards his hand. Then he got down on one knee and punched his fist through the concrete they were standing on. The roof first cracked into a spider’s web and then suddenly fell apart all at once. Danny and Matt jumped through the hole and landed onto the debris. The thugs inside were so taken back that Danny and Matt had no problem in taking them out. After this, the two of them ran outside where Jessica and Luke were just finishing their part of the operation. Jessica turned around and then stopped to stare at Danny.

“No. Way.”

 

“No way,” Jessica said again. Luke had no idea how to react as he, too, stared at Danny. The kid was wearing a green costume with a dragon print over the chest, a yellow mask that hid his eyes, and matching ridiculous slippers. Matt seemed confused so Luke explained.

“You’re not the only one of us costumed anymore.”

“Seriously?” Jessica said, her eyes glued to Danny and face torn between disbelief, mock and amusement.

“Matt does it,” Danny said, avoiding Jessica's stare.

“Yes. And he looks like a dick.”

“The Avengers wear costumes, too.”

“They also look like dicks. Honestly, why?”

“To keep Daniel Rand and Iron Fist separate,” Danny said. “I’ve been using it since our last case.”

“That does make sense,” Luke said before Jessica had a chance to open her mouth again. “Sort of.” Danny looked at him with relief and gratitude.

Jessica was about to say something when a loud noise rang in the alley and it was only thanks to Danny’s inhumane reflexes that Jessica got shot in an arm instead of her head. Danny pushed her behind trash cans and then stepped behind Luke just as the newcomers opened fire.

Matt had gotten onto a fire escape with his crazy parkour moves and jumped from there behind the shooters and managed to knock one out with a single punch. However, he was hit in the head with the end of a gun and he fell against the wall. The thugs all pointed their guns at him, but before they had a chance to pull the triggers, Danny had summoned the Iron Fist and used it to throw them all off their feet. He and Luke ran up to the men before they had a chance to regain composure. Once the goons were dealt with, Danny helped Matt up and Luke hurried to check on Jessica.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Jessica repeated irritably while blood darkened her jacket sleeve. Luke quickly pulled his phone out and texted Claire and asked her to meet up at Jessica’s place. Meanwhile, Danny and visibly disoriented Matt had gone back into the building.

“Luke!” Danny called from the inside. Luke followed the voice with Jessica who hobbled on on her own, refusing help. As soon as they got inside, however, Jessica joined Matt who sat on the floor resting against the wall. It seemed like the blind man had been hit in the head much harder than Luke had thought. But he gave Luke a nod and Luke turned to Danny.

“We found the goods,” Danny said and showed Luke several duffel bags full of drugs. The sheer amount of it explained the heavy guards. Luke gathered the bags together and piled them by the door for the police to pick up once they were tipped of the find.

When Luke was done, he looked at Danny and saw how pale the kid was and how he shook slightly in the silly costume.

“I used the Fist on the roof,” Danny said when he noticed Luke’s look. Luke remembered being explained to that Danny used his life energy to summon the Iron Fist. Luke did not quite (or at all) understand this, but it was obvious that using the Fist twice in such a short time really wiped Danny out.

“At least it’s over now,” Luke said and immediately regretted his words as they heard shouting from the outside.

“Six,” Matt said from the floor. “All armed.” Luke looked around at his companions. He would of course easily survive the fight, but the others were vulnerable and two of them not even able to stand. He couldn’t possibly stop six armed people before they would have opportunity to open fire. Danny turned to Luke and Luke knew what he was thinking.

“Sure you wanna push your luck, kid?”

“Can’t think of another way,” Danny said and just as the men from outside ran in with their arms raised, Danny repeated his earlier trick with the Fist and managed to knock them all out at once. Then he collapsed onto the floor and Luke found himself to be the only one left standing in the room.

 

* * *

 

Danny really was out of it. He was able to walk, but if Luke hadn’t held onto his arm, he would probably have been bumping into things. The mask made his expression hard to read and Luke started to think that Danny was sleepwalking until the boy muttered something.

“What was that, kid?”

“Where are we going?”

“My place. It’s much closer than yours.”

“I can get a cab.”

“I thought the whole point of the costume was to hide your identity.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Danny didn’t speak after that, but he walked a bit straighter and Luke let go of his arm. The only thing wrong with Danny seemed to be exhaustion. It was Jessica and Matt who Luke was worried about. In the end, Claire had come to pick the two of them up, promising Luke to make sure they were alright.

Two more blocks and they arrived to the Gem.

“I thought we were going to your place?” Danny asked as he regarded the small movie theatre.

“I live above it. No need for alarm clocks for me. The morning matinees take care of that. Waking up to gunfights and corny cowboy lines is more than enough.” Danny laughed quietly, but it seemed like that was all he had energy for.

“Hi, DW,” Luke said as he and Danny walked inside.

“Hi, man. You were out late,” the young film student said. “I’m just doing some cleaning up before heading to bed.” Luke could tell that the boy was high because it wasn’t until they were half-way up the stairs that he noticed Danny.

“Whoa, that’s so cool, man. You have an actual superhero with you.”

“What do you mean ‘actual superhero’?”

“The costume. Dude, that’s awesome. Is he your partner?”

“Just go to sleep, DW.”

Danny hadn’t said anything during the conversation and followed Luke up the stairs in silence. As Luke opened the door to his tiny studio, he felt an unfamiliar sense of awkwardness.

“The couch is all yours,” Luke said and Danny sat down without a single look around. Luke grabbed himself a beer and wondered what to do next. Then he remembered how Danny had eaten his weight’s worth of Chinese after using the Iron Fist previously.

“Pizza or Chinese?” he called to Danny and got a questioning mumble in return. “Pizza, then.”

Luke opened another beer while waiting for the food and texted Claire again. The pizza arrived before any reply came and Luke worked hard on not thinking too much about it.

“Hey, kid, pizza’s here,” Luke said and walked over to the couch to give Danny his share. Danny, however, was fast asleep, lying in an awkward sprawl, half on the couch, half off. Luke moved his limbs into a more comfortable position, took off the mask and the slippers and set them on the table. He finished his beer and went to bed.

 

By the time Luke woke up in the morning, Danny was already gone. The extra-large pizza from the fridge had also disappeared. Luke still had no idea how someone so lean could eat that much at once. As Luke sat by the table for his own breakfast, he saw that apparently a pizza fairy had left some change in return for the food. Luke stared at the hundred dollar bill with annoyance. Either Danny really didn’t know the value of money or this was charity. Luke got dressed and left the apartment.

“Morning, Lucas,” DW said. “Your partner is awesome. Did you know he killed a real dragon?”

“Here,” Luke said and handed DW the pizza fairy money. “To repair the soda machine.”

“But we just got it fixed.”

“In case,” Luke said and headed out.

“You’re cursing the machine, Lucas!” DW shouted after him.

“It can’t get any more cursed than it already is.”

 

Luke arrived to Danny’s townhouse and opened the door with a key he had been given. He wandered around the first floor until he came to Danny's training quarters where the man in question was in the middle of practice. The kid was punching and kicking punching bags with the same unreal speed that he did in battle.

“I see you’re feeling better already,” Luke called, walking up to Danny. “You looked pretty shaken last night.” 

“I’m fine,” Danny said and as proof did a series of kicks and punches. Then he turned back to Luke. “Hey, since you’re here, would you like to spar?”

“I think our first meeting was enough. The only way you can get to me is using the Iron Fist and I ain’t looking forward to feeling that again.”

“The last time I used only offensive. I’d like to try something different.” Sparring was not what Luke had in mind the first thing in the morning, but Danny looked so excited.

“So, I want to try a couple of judo moves on you.”

“Daniel, I know you’re stronger than you look, but there’s no way you’ll be able to throw around my 300 pounds of solid muscle.”

"That’s the point of judo. C’mon, let me show you.” Danny didn’t look just excited, he looked _happy_. Luke thought back to the bits Danny had told about the decade he had spent in K’un Lun where his whole life had been dedicated to practising his fighting skills.

“Okay, so what do I do?”

“Charge at me,” Danny said. Luke shrugged and then started striding towards Danny. Just when he was about to reach the boy, his leg was swiped out from under him mid-step and he fell onto the mat.

“Huh.”

“Do that again and try to grab my shoulders.”

Luke did as was asked and this time Danny used Luke’s momentum to throw him over his shoulder and Luke found himself on the floor again.

“Ow. Okay that one didn't really work,” Danny said, rubbing his back. He had lost his balance during the move and almost fallen down himself. “Let’s try again. I’ll try to time my moves different.”

Luke let himself be slammed into the mat for half an hour. Then Danny did the throw over his shoulder one more time, kneeled down and pulled his right arm back, mimicking summoning the Iron Fist.

“And that’s how good defence can be the best offence,” he said as if he had been lecturing Luke the whole time.

“Thank you for that, Yoda,” Luke said. “Star Wars,” he added when he saw Danny’s blank face.

“Oh yeah, I saw those as a kid," Danny said and a small smile spread on his face. "The green frog thing, right? I can’t remember much of the films, though.”

Luke would have to convince DW to give the westerners a break and give Danny some pop culture education.

“You wanna give it a try?” Danny asked. “I could teach you some moves.”

“Dude, I got my moves. Left and right. They ain’t let me down yet.

“With all these superheroes and villains running around, you’re bound to meet someone equal of your strength. Or more,” Danny said, face suddenly serious. “Knowing some tricks could come handy.”

“Maybe some other time,” Luke said. “I’d say lunch is in order. I saw a promising-looking fast food joint around the corner.”

“Thanks, but no. Colleen is coming over to practice with me.”

“More practice? Kid, you need to take a break every now and then. There’s gotta be something else to do on a Saturday.” Danny’s genuinely confused expression was kind of sad. Luke patted him on the shoulder as he took his leave.

“See you around, Danny.”

“See you.”


	2. You Punched Me First

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments and kudos!

The Immortal Iron Fist, the Living Weapon, champion of K’un Lun was completely and utterly lost. Danny kept on pulling out his cell phone as if glaring at it intensely could recharge it. It did not and he put the phone back away, only to dig it out again the next minute. He had walked around the neighbourhood for almost an hour, looking for any familiar street name, but had found none. The only signs of life were scattered groups of homeless people asleep in their sleeping bags and a stray cat that followed Danny with its eyes as he walked by. His fingers itched for the phone again, but he resisted the urge.

Finally Danny came upon a telephone booth. He hadn’t known those were a thing anymore. Had they been a thing even when he had been a child? In any case, here was one that seemed to be in operation. Danny took out the few coins he was carrying on him and slid them into the slot one by one. His fingers, however, wavered over the dials for a long time. Who would he call like this? He stood there staring at the phone, almost deciding to leave, until he dialled Luke’s number. One, two, three, four rings and the phone was picked up.

“Who the fuck is this?” Luke’s voice was gruff and clearly very pissed off.

“Luke, It’s Danny, I’m-“

“Man, you do know it’s 3 fucking o’clock, right?”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Danny said. “I need help.” This seemed to wake Luke up.

“What is it? I’m on my way.” Danny could hear Luke get out of bed and move around in his apartment.

“Wait, sorry, it’s not like that. I’m ok,” Danny hurried to say.

“What’s going on? Where are you?”

“Er that’s kind of it. I’m lost and my cell phone is dead. I’m calling from a payphone. Can you believe they still exist?” Luke groaned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know who to call.” A short silence and then a heavy sigh.

“How lost are you?”

“I know I’m still in Manhattan, but that’s about it.”

“Give me something. Do you know what street you’re on?”

“I’ll check. Hold on.” Danny ran to the nearest street corner to look up the sign and then jogged back. He picked up the phone, half expecting Luke to be gone, but the man was waiting.

“I’m at the corner of Rivington and Norfolk.” Luke mumbled to himself for a moment and then sighed again.

“You’re a long way from Upper East, Danny. Can you call a cab from where you are?”

“I used the only money I had for this call,” Danny said, startling himself with the hint of desperation in his own voice. But he was cold, tired, hungry and aching and wanted nothing more than to be off the dark streets and curled up in his bed. “Just point me to the right direction and I’ll walk home.”

“Fuck it. I’ll call you Uber.” A short silence. “Danny, are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. It’s just been a long night.”

“Are you out as Iron Fist or Danny Rand?”

“Fist.” One more sigh over the phone.

“I’ll get you the Uber.”

 

That was how Luke found himself in a car on his way to literally the other side of Manhattan just to pick up an idiot kid who’d gotten lost in his own city. The Uber driver tried to start a chat during the half an hour, but Luke was too annoyed to be polite. They reached the address and Danny, yes, in his complete Iron Fist costume, walked over.

“Luke? You didn’t have to come,” the boy said with surprise when he opened the door.

“Just get in.”

“Where to, gents?” the driver asked once Danny had seated himself. Luke could see the man eyeing Danny’s masked face with unconcealed curiosity.

“Back to where you picked me up,” Luke grumbled. Danny looked at him questioningly, but didn’t comment. Luke turned to the window. The quiet streets went by as they made their way up north. Luke glanced at Danny and saw that the boy’s eyes hadn’t left him. They stared at each other for a while until Luke turned away again. Neither spoke during the ride.

“I love the Avengers,” the driver blurted out once they arrived to the Gem. It was obvious that he had held it back during the drive. “You guys do a good job.”

“All in a day’s work,” Danny muttered. Luke paid the driver who gave Danny one more admiring look before taking off.

It was after four when Luke and Danny got into Luke’s apartment, both dragging their feet. Danny sat down by the kitchen table and took off his mask. In the light, Luke saw that Danny’s costume was torn in places and his face had some small cuts and bruises. There weren’t any serious injuries, but the kid did look rough. Luke went to his bathroom to get a first-aid kit, but then realised he didn’t have one. He hadn’t had a need for Band-Aids in a long time.

“Want me to go pick up some bandages from DW?” he asked when he returned to Danny. The kid was staring at the table and didn’t reply. “Daniel!” Luke said louder and Danny’s head snapped up. “You need me to get a first-aid kit here?”

“It’s alright,” Danny said finally. “I’m just really tired.”

“Well, you know the drill,” Luke said, nodding towards the couch. Danny got up and Luke patted his shoulder lightly. He may have come off harsher than he had meant to. Once Danny had gotten comfortable on the couch, Luke got to his bed and was asleep in no time.

 

* * *

 

“So, K’un Lun really doesn’t exist on Earth, but another dimension?”

“That’s right,” Danny said. “It appears here every ten years.”

“Dude, that’s amazing,” DW said with a dreamy look. He had bombed Danny with questions of K’un Lun and the Iron Fist for a whole hour. The two of them sat in the Gem’s lobby, drinking coffee and eating stale popcorn that had gone unsold the day before.

“And then there was the dragon and everything. That’s just so cool.” Danny doubted that DW would understand that Danny found him just as fascinating as the film student found him. Danny had asked him several questions about his college and the movie theatre and listened to it all with the same enthrallment that DW listened to his stories. His life seemed just as foreign to Danny as his did to the other man.

“What happened last night, then? Magic ninjas? Did you and Luke fight them together?”

“Danny, you’re still here?”

Danny and DW turned to the stairs leading up to Luke’s apartment and saw the man walking down. He looked as annoyed as he had at night.

“We’re having breakfast,” DW said and raised his coffee mug.

“You look weird,” Luke said to Danny, ignoring DW. Danny was dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans that DW had given him to wear instead of the Iron Fist costume. The two of them were roughly the same size, but judged by Luke’s strange gaze, the styles didn’t quite match. Now that Danny thought about it, the clothes looked like sort of relics from the 70’s and were tight and loose in weird places.

“I should get going,” Danny said and stood up. It was hard for him to look at Luke. The night before embarrassed him and he was still confused as to why Luke had gone through the trouble to come pick him up himself. Maybe it was yet another New York thing that he just didn’t understand. That wouldn’t be much of a surprise now that he thought about it.

“Hold on, I’d like to hear the deal of last night, as well,” Luke said. “So, magic ninjas?”

“No,” Danny replied. He sat back down while Luke stood in front of him and DW, his arms crossed over his broad chest and brow furrowed. “Or I’m not sure. They were threatening a couple on the streets and I stepped in. I chased after them until they realised there was just one of me and they stopped running.” He touched his bruised face on instinct. “After a while, they apparently thought I was not worth the trouble and they just vanished. Literally. There’s more to it than a group of muggers. They fought like professionals and I think they had some kinds of uniforms.”

DW stared at him with a bright smile while Luke’s frown stayed the same.

“I’m sorry I troubled you that late at night,” Danny quickly said. “I feel like an idiot.” Luke waved his hand with a dismissive air.

“What’re you gonna do next?” the man asked.

“I’m- I’m not sure. I want to find out more. I just don’t know where to start,” Danny said uncertainly. He had to know what these people were about. Mugging wouldn’t be surprising in the abandoned neighbourhood where he had chanced upon the incident, but the amount of people in the group and the way they had fought was definitely strange.

“Get your skinny ass back upstairs,” Luke said with a sigh that was slowly becoming a very familiar sound.

 

Luke interrogated Danny of the events of the previous night until he had the picture. The area, features of the couple that had been attacked, and a detailed description of the people behind it. He drew a map of the movements of Danny and the suspects as they had chased one another and fought. No superpowers, but organised behaviour and disappearance that seemed to defy laws of physics. There was definitely something suspicious going on.

Luke thought about bringing Jessica in. Her experience as a private investigator made her more qualified for tracking people down. Luke abandoned this idea, however. The last time he had asked for her help, Jessica had gotten shot in the arm. Besides, the case seemed simple enough. Find the people and throw around some punches until they got answers. Easy.

“We should get going,” he said.

“’We’?”

“I thought it was obvious that we’re both in this now,” Luke said.

Danny’s expression was a mixture of gratitude, confusion and embarrassment. His face was far too easy to read. No wonder he sucked at poker so much.

 

* * *

 

The night was windy and Luke wondered how Danny fared in his costume. Luke couldn’t really understand why the kid had insisted on wearing it at all. It had dirt and tears from his previous run-in with the people they were after and Luke still wasn’t quite convinced that he needed the costume in the first place.

“It’s not just to hide the identity,” Danny had explained when they had left the Gem. “I want to get known as the Iron Fist. And I think the name has already spread around the city a little.” Luke still wasn’t completely convinced.

“There,” Danny of the present said, “four of them, can you see?”

“Yeah. Those really don’t look like muggers.” The men and women below Luke and Danny all carried heavy guns and they were wearing some sorts of uniforms.

“You sure they’re the right people?”

“Pretty sure.”

The two of them had spent several hours scouting the area where Danny had stopped the criminals from attacking the couple. Nothing had seemed to be out of ordinary until this.

“So, what do you want to do?”

“You’re asking me?”

“It’s your case, kid, I’m just a sidekick here.” Even with the mask hiding his eyes, Luke could see flickers of different emotions cross Danny’s face. Luke gave his shoulder a small squeeze.

“I’d like to get closer and listen, but I’m not sure if that’s possible without them noticing us.”

“We can try to use the fire escape to get a couple of floors down.”

“Alright, let’s get going.”

Danny moved with the grace and speed of a cat in uncanny silence, leaving Luke feeling like an elephant stomping around. But they managed to get down to the second floor without being detected. They stopped to listen, but the men and women spoke in a foreign language.

“Sounds Slavic,” Danny whispered. “But I have no idea which language.”

As they watched, a man and a woman walked into the alley and marched up to the group. They greeted the others in English.

“We got one of them,” the man said. He looked over his shoulder to the end of the alley where two other men appeared, holding a struggling woman between them.

“Luke, that’s one of the women I saved last night,” Danny said quietly.

The first group of people looked startled at this turn of events.

“Idiots! Why you bring her here in open?” one of them said with a thick accent.

“Why not? We have bought the cops in these parts. And it’s not like the Avengers or the Fantastic Four will turn up. They’re busy fighting aliens and each other.”

As Luke and Danny watched, a short but broad woman pointed her gun at the one being held captive.

“What do we do? Make her squeal or simply off her? It’s her wife who we need.”

Danny turned to Luke.

“Now?” Danny asked.

“Your call, hero.”

“Okay then.” Danny ran down the stairs to the first floor from where he simply jumped onto the alley, Luke following soon after. The people were stunned to silence for a second.

“Shit, it’s that crazy Kung Fu guy!” one of the American men shouted then. “Iron Fist!”

Danny looked at Luke and his grin could only be described as shit-eating.

“I’m outta here!” another man said and started running, but Luke stopped him easily.

“Use your guns, you morons!” one of the foreigners screamed and those with guns opened fire. Luke didn‘t have time to shield Danny and for one horrible moment he thought that Iron Fist’s career was going to be cut short. The kid, however, managed to dodge the bullets aimed at him until the shooters ran out of them.

“What the hell are these people?” the short woman said, staring with wide eyes at Luke whose shirt was full of bullet holes, but he himself unharmed.

“You know my name,” Danny said as he punched the closest man hard enough to knock him over. “My partner here-“

“Associate. Luke Cage,” Luke cut in, hitting another man so that he fell over the guy Danny had taken care of. “I’d advise those who want to keep their teeth to surrender.”

What happened next happened so fast that Luke wasn’t completely sure he believed his eyes. One of the foreigners had taken out some kind of a device and suddenly he and his three companions turned transparent.

“You coward bastards!” one of the Americans shouted.

“This is your own fault. We’ll be in contact with your leaders. Goodbye.”

The American who had spoken tried to grasp the foreigner, but he and the others had already vanished.

“So, you guys ready to give up?” Luke said and cracked his knuckles, pretending not be fazed by the foreigners' disappearance.

“Fuck you,” the short woman spat. She had reloaded her gun and Luke quickly stepped in front of Danny. He’d hoped to not get shot any more that night. His shirt was ruined and while the bullets couldn’t penetrate his skin, they did hurt.

He was half a second too late in realising that he and Danny were not the woman’s target.

“No!” Danny shouted, but the woman had already pulled the trigger, aiming at the one they had held captive. Then she and her companions started running while Danny and Luke hurried to the wounded woman.

“My wife,” was the only thing she said before losing consciousness.

The police arrived in fifteen minutes and picked up the woman along with Danny and Luke, neither of whom was able to speak.

 

* * *

 

They all but fell onto Danny’s couch.

“Shit,” Danny muttered.

“You said it, kid,” Luke said. It was the first time they’d spoken to each other in two hours. Danny let himself relax all his muscles and slid down on the couch.

“I’m just glad to be home."

“Uh-huh.”

“You were quiet,” Danny commented, looking up at Luke. The police had interviewed them for almost an hour. Danny had at first turned to Luke for answers, but the man had remained silent aside from giving his name and address.

“A black man found at a crime scene as opposed to a white man,” Luke said with humourless laugh. “Excuse me for leaving the talking to you.”

“Oh,” Danny said. “Shit. Sorry.” Looking back at the way they had been treated at the station, Danny could see what Luke meant. Especially after Danny, having changed out of the Iron Fist costume before the cops arrived, had given his name.

“Don’t sweat it. It’s also just personal experiences. You know I’ve done time.”

“For something you didn’t do.”

“Which makes it all the worse.”

Danny didn’t know what to say so he said nothing. Instead he slid a bit further down, dangerously close to the edge of the couch.

“Did we do the right thing?” he asked. “Lying to the cops?”

“You heard what those bastards at the alley said. I don’t trust the police in that neighbourhood.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Danny,” Luke said firmly. “We did good.”

“They’re not sure if the woman is going to wake up again.”

“Without us, she’d be dead.”

“Hmm.” Danny slid even further down, off the couch and onto the floor. Luke grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him back up.

“Stop brooding. It’s annoying”, he said. “How about the fact that those goons recognised you? Iron Fist is making a name of himself.” Danny had to smile at the memory, but then his face fell again.

“I know it sounds childish and kinda vain to have wanted that so bad. I guess I just-“ he wrung his hands as he struggled for words. “The title of Iron Fist was something important and then... After we beat the Hand... And just...” Luke looked at him expectantly, but Danny couldn’t find more words. Luke did.

“To me it sounds like you’re just looking for your place, Danny.”

Danny looked down at his right hand which he had clenched into a fist without realising it.

“You know,” he said slowly, “those men got me to thinking. At the alley. The cops at that area are corrupted and the Avengers are too busy being big heroes to pay attention to what goes on in the streets. I feel like that is where we- I might belong. Taking care of things that other superheroes don’t have time for.”

“A grassroot superhero?” Luke said and there was a smile on his face that Danny could not interpret. Then he touched Danny’s shoulder in a way that was slowly becoming as familiar as his sigh was. “We’ll get to the bottom of this case. Iron Fist and his associate.” Danny felt a grin tug at his lips.

“You sure you don’t want a superhero name?”

“I’m good,” Luke said, shaking his head. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Then Luke yawned and stretched his arms. “Wanna watch a movie or something before calling it a day? You finally got the television to work after all. We’ll get back to business tomorrow.”

“You pick the movie.”

Luke went through the library while Danny tried hard to not fall asleep.

“Seriously?” Danny laughed when Luke put _Karate Kid_ on.

“Shut up and enjoy it. We’re going to have another long day tomorrow.”

Luke didn't touch Danny's shoulder again, but Danny could feel the warmth of his hand for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on vacation right now, but I'll put the next chapter up once I get home!


	3. Let's Not Use That Word

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to those who stuck around even with the screwed-up format of the previous chapter. It's fixed now. Hope you like this new one!

Jessica was doing that thing with her voice.

”You have any idea how I can reach Mrs Martinez? My boss is going to kill me if I don't deliver this to her,” she said to the phone, wearing a disturbing, vacant smile. Danny was staring at her with an open mouth which made Luke grin.

”I understand. Thank you for your time,” Jessica said with a cheerful voice and finished the call. The smile vanished instantly. ”Asshole.”

”That was,” Danny said and stopped, looking for an appropriate word, ”incredible.” A tiny, almost there smile ghosted over Jessica's lips for a second and then disappeared.

“So, we know that Maria Martinez is still unconscious and that she has had no visitors. Something might have happened to her wife. My guess is that she's either hiding at home, on the run or the Slavic guys got to her. I think our next step is to go see her and the wife's apartment.”

Without Jessica, Luke and Danny would've been lost. They had tried to go see Mrs Martinez in the morning, but the nurses hadn't let them into her room. Danny had suggested buying the hospital after that. There were moments when Luke felt like punching the kid in the face.

Jessica had had more luck. Or talent. Luke and Danny had created a distraction at the hospital's lobby, faking a loud argument bordering on a fight, giving Jessica a chance to peek at the receptionist’s list of patients. There she had found the names and the street address of the two women.

“She really is good,” Danny whispered to Luke while Jessica looked up the address on Danny’s computer. Luke could tell that Jessica had heard Danny and the barely there smile returned to her face.

“Alright, we're off to Brooklyn,” she called after a while. “They live in the fancy neighbourhood so maybe Richie Rich could put on a suit. Blend in a bit.”

“And you and me?” Luke asked.

“Hope that his pretty face distracts people enough.”

“You think my face is pretty?” Danny said.

“The way people call their dogs and cats pretty.”

“Nice clothes might be a good idea,” Luke cut in. “I don't understand why a millionaire dresses up like such a hobo.”

“Maybe that was stylish in the magic land?”

“Could be. Style is not the only thing he's out of touch of.”

“You guys know I'm standing right here?”

“Just go get dressed.”

 

They took the subway to Brooklyn. Less than glamorous, Danny thought, his mind wandering to the quinjets of the Avengers and the rumoured plane of the X-Men. Jessica was drinking wine disguised as soda and Luke was on his cell phone. Meanwhile Danny sat across from them, his hands fidgeting and leg bouncing. Doing nothing made him restless.

“Daniel, just ten more minutes. Can you please sit still for ten minutes?” Luke finally said, glancing at Danny before getting back to his phone. Danny found that he kind of liked it when Luke called him by his full name.

At last, after what had felt like an eternity, they arrived to Brooklyn Heights. The area was beautiful, more so than Upper East. Danny did feel that the suit he had put on was a bit too much, though, and he said so to Luke and Jessica.

“We're about to commit a break and enter in broad daylight in a rich neighbourhood,” Luke said. “I'd say we go for every bit of advantage we possibly can.”

“We're here,” Jessica announced and stopped in front of one of the old brownstone buildings. They stood in place awkwardly for a moment before Luke took the lead and walked up the doorsteps. A middle-aged lady from next door peeked out of her window.

“Can I help you?” She smiled politely, but with suspicion in her eyes.

“Thank you, ma'am. We're just here to pick up some things for Mrs Martinez,” Danny said, trying to put on a charming smile.

“To the hospital?”

“That’s right, ma'am.”

“Oh, that poor woman. I hope she'll be alright. At least her wife is there for her. I haven't even seen Lisa since we heard of Maria's accident.” Danny, Jessica and Luke exchanged a look. According to what Jessica had been told on the phone, Lisa Martinez hadn't been at the hospital even once.

“How do you know Maria and Lisa?” the neighbour asked. Her tone had changed to pleasant and the smile reached her eyes.

“Friends from work,” Danny said and flashed the lady another smile. Then he made a show of looking for a key he did not actually possess.

“They keep a spare key under the flower pot,” the neighbour said helpfully. Danny thanked her several times while Luke picked up the hidden key.

“Have a good day, ma'am,” Danny said as they stepped into the house and waved goodbye to the lady who waved back enthusiastically.

“I didn't know you had it in you,” Luke commented to him after they had closed the door.

“What, being nice?”

“I don't know. Social skills?” Danny frowned at that. He did have trouble reading people sometimes and social norms on Earth were something he was still figuring out, but Luke's comment stung a bit.

“What about the pretty face?” he said to go for a lighter mood.

“You charmed the shit out of her. She barely noticed Luke and me,” Jessica said absent-mindedly while the three of them walked further into the house. “She'll talk about you at her book club.”

After that they didn't speak and searched the house in silence. The place was filled with expensive furniture and beautiful paintings on the walls. Danny and the others hadn't been able to find out what the Martinez couple actually did for a living, but it was obvious that they were either very well paid or had inherited a considerable amount of money the way Danny had.

They moved from the first floor to the second. To Danny, everything looked normal, but Jessica started muttering to herself as she inspected the master bedroom.

“There’s been a fight here,” she then said. Luke seemed as confused as Danny was. “A bullet hole on the wardrobe door, hastily made bed in otherwise disturbingly tidy house, and pieces of a broken lamp under the bed. Something happened here and someone wanted to cover it up, but was in a hurry.”

“Shit,” Luke said.

“It's probably safe to assume that Lisa Martinez has been kidnapped. I wish we knew why those people are after her. It could give us some clues,” Jessica said. She took out the soda bottle with wine and emptied it. No one spoke for a while.

“Is this getting beyond us? Should we get help from someone?” Luke asked, but only half-heartedly.

“I don't play well with others,” Jessica said.

“You've been fine with us,” Danny commented and got an irritated glare from Jessica. ”But I agree. We can do this on our own,” he added.

“Alright. Let's snoop around some more,” Luke said.

 

They spent an hour searching the house, looking for any signs of Mrs Martinez or the kidnappers. But in the end they had to give up and the three of them took the subway back to Manhattan. Jessica stared straight ahead of her, deep in thought, swinging a leg back and forth. Meanwhile Danny was sitting unusually still next to Luke. The restlessness of before was gone and he looked older than he was. It was obvious that he had taken their defeat heavily. Luke nudged him with his elbow.

“It's going to be alright, kid,” he said. ”I know our next step.” The shine in Danny's eyes when he looked up at Luke told him a bit more than he would have liked to know. Jessica noticed the way Danny looked at him as well.

“You're in trouble,” she whispered to Luke when they parted their ways.

“I know,” he whispered back, doing his best to avoid looking at Danny who was still staring at him, oblivious to how obvious it was.

 

* * *

 

The next step was something Luke figured best to do on his own. He went from acquaintance to acquaintance in Harlem the following day, asking about a specific group of Europeans that might be involved in criminal activity in the city. According to the people he interrogated, no one knew anything. It wasn't until the last resort Luke lowered himself into that he found out the real problem.

“Your white boyfriend ain't got enough money to buy answers?” the pot seller Luke had cornered asked him with a mocking smile. “We know who he is, by the way,” he added. “We've seen both the millionaire Rand and the Iron Hand going in and out of your place. It's not hard to put two and two together.”

“Fist,” Luke corrected tiredly. “And he's not my boyfriend.”

“Whatever. You won't find nothing around here, _brother_.” The last word was said with enough sarcasm to make Luke want to hit something. Or someone. But he fought the urge.

Back to square one, he thought, starting to feel as defeated as Danny had looked. But he realised he did have one more person to go to.

 

* * *

  

Danny wasn't sure how it had happened, but Colleen and Misty Knight had become close friends after the deal with the Hand.

“She took the loss of her arm heavily, of course, but I think leaving the force was worse,” Colleen told him while the two of them trained. She managed to hit Danny with her unsheathed _katana_ , but he dodged the next attempt.

“So, what is she up to now?” Danny knocked Colleen over with a kick.

“Oh, she and I have something cooking up,” Colleen said with a carefree voice, jumping up to her feet easily.

“Like what?” Danny asked while aiming another kick at Colleen who managed to dodge at the last second.

“I can't tell you yet,” she said with a mysterious smile. “But I'm pretty excited. With you and your new partner, I need someone to work with.”

“Luke and I are not partners. And you're more than welcome to join us on this case.”

“Nah, I don't want to get in the way. You’ve looked happier lately than I've ever seen you. Besides, I really like Misty and look forward to working with her.”

Suddenly the door of the  _dōjō_ was opened and Luke walked in. He looked serious and ignored Danny and Colleen's greetings.

“I asked around for information on the people we're after, but had little luck,” he said instead of pleasantries. Danny thought he saw something close to hurt on Luke's face, but it passed. “That is until I talked with an old friend. According to him, there are rumours of a strange group of foreigners who have been hiring people around New York City for jobs that no one is allowed to talk about. My friend is not completely sure where they are from, but they're described as East-European.”

“Any idea where they can be found?”

“Apparently right under my nose. Which most of my contacts conveniently forgot to mention," Luke said. Again, the look of hurt which was quickly concealed. "There's an abandoned apartment building close to my place where these people are possibly squatting." Here a small grin appeared on his face. “So, you guys ready for some action?”

“Colleen?” Danny said, turning to her. She shrugged her shoulders.

“Guess I can lend a hand,” she replied, as if reluctantly, but Danny saw a smile as she carefully picked a sword to take with her.

 

In the end, Danny and Luke were accompanied by both Colleen and Misty. They had waited until the evening to approach the building that Luke's informant had pointed them to. There was definitely some activity inside of it. The lights were dimmed, but it was obvious that someone was in the upper floors. Whether they were homeless people or their suspects, something was definitely going on.

“You and Misty wait here,” Danny said quietly, tying the Iron Fist mask on his face. “Colleen and I will go see what's up there. If it's our guys we'll text you.”

“Why just you two?” Luke asked.

“You're both great fighters, Luke, but stealth is something Colleen and I know better than anyone.” Luke looked like he wanted to argue, but he resigned.

“Just be careful and let us know if you get into trouble.”

“I'm always careful.”

Danny and Colleen slipped into the building silently. They listened carefully for any sign of people, but heard nothing on the first couple of floors. They parted to check individual apartments, but all Danny found was broken windows, smashed bottles and graffiti.

“Nothing. You?” he mouthed to Colleen when they met up in the hallway. Colleen shook her head.

Danny texted Luke to tell that the first floors were clear. Then he and Colleen climbed the stairs to the higher floors where they had seen the lights. Now there was something. The door to one of the apartments was open and there were sounds of talking. It sounded like the language that their suspects had spoken.

“ _You recognize the language?_ ” Danny typed on his phone and showed it to Colleen who shook her head again. “ _I think its our suspects._ ” Colleen mimed typing a message and pointed to the stairs. Danny nodded and texted Luke to tell him and Misty to come up.

Luke made a lot of noise on purpose as he walked up the stairway and the room with people fell quiet for a second. Danny and Colleen waited on both sides of the door. Luke made another loud noise and six people rushed out of the room with guns ready. Danny and Colleen let them pass after which the two of them stepped into the apartment, prepared for a fight, but there was no one left inside. They heard gunshots in the hallway and a couple of shouts in the foreign language.

“You!” one of the men shouted in English, alarmed. ”Where's your partner?”

“Associate,” Danny said as he ran into the hallway with Colleen. Again, they were prepared for battle, but Luke had taken care of two of the men already and Misty held the others at gunpoint. The four foreigners still conscious had dropped their guns and held their hands up.

“Daniel, check their pockets,” Luke said. “I don't want them to use the teleportation gizmo again.”

Danny approached the men, but then one of them pulled a new device out.

“You're not going to stop us,” he said calmly. “Our leader has thought of everything.” Then he pushed a button and Danny expected to be blown into pieces, but instead they heard loud noises from upstairs. Then the ceiling was blasted and three large shapes fell down.

“What the-" Luke started, but the shapes began shooting. Danny expected bullets, but instead saw lasers leaving burn marks on the wall, right where Danny had stood half a second ago. He and Colleen had both gotten onto the floor and Danny saw Misty do the same. The foreigners who had been standing when the shapes opened fire fell onto the floor, either unconscious or dead. The shapes stopped shooting for a second and Danny took advantage of the pause and attacked the one closest to him. He almost broke his hand as it made contact with what he now realised was metal. They were under an attack by robots. At least it was something new, Danny thought with a panicky laugh. Misty's exasperated look told him that he had actually said that out loud.

Luke had not moved from his spot and as the robots' only standing target, took the full impact of the next assault. The force of the three laser guns sent him backwards into a wall and through it. The robots started moving towards Luke's still form, but Danny had used the moment to concentrate his energy and attacked the robots with the Iron Fist. One by one, he punched his hand right through the robots and they fell onto the floor with a loud _clang_.

“Luke!” Danny ran to the other man. Luke was conscious, but held a hand on his chest.

“I'm okay. Some broken ribs, but that's alright,” he said, but Danny could tell that he was in real pain. He hadn't known Luke could be hurt like this. But unbreakable skin couldn't protect him from all attacks, apparently. Danny helped Luke up and they returned to the others. Misty and Colleen were crouched over the foreigners, both looking grave.

"I have a feeling that this might be bigger than us, after all,” Misty said. Wordlessly, she showed Danny a passport they had found on one of the foreigners. They were Latverian.

“Anyone know the phone number to the Baxter Building?”

 

* * *

 

The Fantastic Four took over from there. Luke could tell that Danny was really disappointed, but Latveria and its dictator were the FF's expertise and, as Misty had called it, their “turf". Luke was secretly disappointed as well, but understood that this was out of their hands. Not that he was afraid of battling Doctor Doom, a guy with a stupid iron mask and a cape, but the politics surrounding the matter were better left for Doom's arch nemesis. Luke was glad they had been able to help and he went back to thank Blind Toby who had given him information when no one else had cared to spare any.

Misty and Colleen returned to their mysterious business and Luke tried to take it easy for a couple of days to give his ribs a chance to heal. Danny holed up in his townhouse. Four days went by without a word from him, but then Luke got a call.

“I got my video games to work. Wanna come try them out?”

“You're talking to the wrong generation, Danny. I'm not really a video games person.” A silence. Luke sighed. “Mario Kart might be something I could do.”

“I've got the newest one. Epic all-night tournament and beer?”

“I'll pick up the beer.”

 

“This is more complicated than I remembered,” Danny said. “Why'd they have to make it so weird?” He had turned out to be better at driving the virtual go-karts than he'd been at poker, but neither he nor Luke had been able to get even to the second place. “I just don't get it.”

This wasn't the first time Danny had gotten frustrated with a piece of technology and Luke kind of enjoyed it. Technology had certainly taken some leaps during the time Danny had been away and the way he sometimes struggled with his smartphone bridged some of the age gap between him and Luke.

Eventually Danny managed to finish the race in first place and they decided to quit while they were ahead. Beer had been changed to wine and wine to whisky and Luke thought it was time to head home, but was too tired to move.

“Just put the tv on,” he said to Danny. They were showing a sit-com that Luke didn't find very funny, but which was perfect garbage for the state of drunkenness he was in. He was so focused on the television that it took him a while to notice that Danny was staring at him yet again.

“You really gotta stop doing that,” Luke sighed. Danny turned hastily away.

“Sorry,” he said. He wasn't even denying it. Trouble. Luke figured it was time to address the issue, but wasn't sure how. While he contemplated on the thing, Danny had gotten back to gazing at him. 

“Danny, if there's something you want to say, please just do it. You're unnerving me with all the staring.”

“Sorry,” Danny said again, but left it at that. It seemed like it was up to Luke to start. He didn't know whether to go for safe vagueness or to be blunt. He decided that Danny deserved the latter.

“Danny, I'm not gay.”

“I know that.”

“Or bi.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Well, I did have hope.”

Luke felt a little awkward, but Danny's honesty was disarming.

“I really am sorry,” Danny said once more.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Luke replied. He put his hand on Danny's shoulder.

“I like it when you do that,” Danny said. “Not in a weird way,” he said immediately afterwards and edged away.

“Then in what way?” 

“I don't know. I guess I'm a bit touch-starved.” Again honesty that seemed to be the only thing Danny was able to do. Luke reached out his hand to rest it on Danny again.

“I can do that,” he said. Danny looked at Luke's hand and a similar ghost of a smile of Jessica's played on his lips.

After that they focused on the television. Danny laughed at the sit-com in weird places which in turn made Luke laugh. It was far funnier than the actual punchlines of the show were.

“What about that guy? The one you met at a bar?” Luke asked once the sit-com turned into a boring film.

“We agreed we had had our fun. He wasn't looking for anything more than that. But he did it very kindly.”

Luke rubbed Danny's shoulder with his thumb and turned his attention back to the television.

“You _sure_ you don't like guys at all?” Danny asked, the tiniest hint of hopefulness in his voice.

“I can appreciate the looks of a man. But it has to be my type,” Luke said, picking his words very carefully and aiming for the honesty that Danny used. Danny closed his eyes and Luke was sure he had fallen asleep.

“Good night, Luke,” Danny said, however. After that his head fell onto the back of the couch and he started snoring quietly.

Luke got up and helped Danny into a more comfortable position and got a flashback of having done this before back at the Gem. He was about to leave the house when his phone started ringing.

“DW, what the hell are you doing up at 3am?” Luke asked. If the kid was holding a party at the movie theatre, Luke would stay at Danny's.

“I was sleeping, but then the doorbell rang. There's a lady here who says she has to meet you. “

“Tell her to come back tomorrow.”

“She insists,” DW said uncertainly. “She says her name is Lisa Martinez and that she needs you.”

Luke got back into the living room, shook Danny awake and took him to the Gem with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leaning heavily on the comic books here. Let me know how you liked the chapter!


	4. We Make Quite A Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the wait and for the shortness of this chapter. I've been busy with university and taking care of my health. I'll have the next (and longer) chapter up sometime before Christmas!

Lisa Martinez was a tall, white woman in her early 40’s. She was waiting in the lobby of the Gem with DW when Luke and Danny arrived. She was dressed immaculately and showed no signs of tiredness despite the late hour. Danny felt wide awake as well. The excitement of this new turn of events and the cold night air had woken him up. He was still drunk, though, but hoped his mask helped hide it.

“I thought you hated the costume?” he had asked Luke sleepily when they had left his house. Luke had roughly shaken him awake, told him to change into the costume, and then marched him out.

“I do,” Luke had answered. He had held his hand on Danny’s back as he steered them towards the way to Harlem. “But you decided to have a superhero alter ego, now live it up.”

Luke hadn’t taken his hand off of Danny until they had reached the Gem.

“Lisa Martinez, I assume,” Luke said to the woman. He offered her his hand and she shook it. “Luke Cage.”

“I know.”

“Dan- Iron Fist,” Danny corrected himself and reached out his hand in turn and got a short but firm handshake.

“Shall we move to your office?” Martinez said. She looked around the lobby and DW who had fallen asleep where he sat, long blonde hair falling over his face. Martinez’s expression was hard to read, but her impatience was visible.

“Office?” Danny said stupidly and glanced at Luke.

“Sure, upstairs,” Luke said without a blink of an eye. He led Danny and Martinez up to his small studio apartment and turned the lights on. Martinez raised an eyebrow and Danny felt flustered, suddenly very self-conscious about everything from the room to his costume which was dirty and frayed. He had a feeling they weren’t making a very good first impression. At least Luke didn’t look as drunk as Danny felt.

“Ah, where should I-?” Martinez said, looking around the room. Without a word, Luke walked to his bed and lifted it effortlessly. He carried it to a corner and then moved the couch to the middle of the room with one hand. Danny thought this show a bit ridiculous, but saw Martinez’s lips quirk.

“Please,” Luke said and Martinez sat down on the couch while Danny and Luke took kitchen chairs and set them in front of her.

“How can we help you, Mrs Martinez?” Danny asked, very glad to be sitting down. He was slowly starting to feel more sober, but now he had a headache forming.

“I'd like to first know where you've been,” Luke cut in. He was staring at Martinez intensely. “We searched your house and found signs of a fight.”

“Oh yes, your very legal search into my home,” Martinez said with a smile on her brightly painted lips. “Don’t look so alarmed, Mr Iron Fist,” she added, looking at Danny who had been startled by the words. “I’m glad you did that. Yes,” she continued and turned back to Luke, “there indeed was a fight. The men after me and my wife broke into our house and tried to kidnap me.”

“Tried to?”

“I managed to escape.”

“How?” Luke said.

“I’m a resourceful woman.”

“Alright. What happened next?” Danny felt that Luke was acting unnecessarily rude, but Martinez didn’t seem fazed by it. Danny focused on watching the woman, taking inventory of her. She didn’t look especially strong, but Danny knew that this didn’t mean anything if one knew proper self-defence.

“I ran away from my own house and have been hiding in hotels the past few days.”

“You know an awful lot for someone who's been hiding,” Luke said. “And then you found us here."

"I'll confess that I've had you two followed, Mr Cage. Since your partner saved Maria and me. The people I hired found out that Iron Fist has been seen coming to this place."

"Alright. Why are you here?"

“I would like to hire your help. To my understanding, some of the men after me have been captured, but that’s not the end of this ordeal. There are more of them involved. I need protection and someone to find the rest of these people and put them away.”

“And we need the whole story,” Luke said, his arms crossed and eyes sharp. Danny would have been squirming had that look been aimed at him, but Martinez smiled again.

“Of course, Mr Cage,” she said. “I work at Stark Industries and have been involved in a, let’s say ‘sensitive’, project. There are people out there who would love to get their hands on it. And, at last, someone tried to. My wife and I were attacked by a group of men about a week ago, but your partner drove them away. But then Maria-“ here Martinez’s calm façade broke for a moment and she took in a deep breath. “Then Maria got hurt. You two know this part better than I do. In any case, I was just preparing myself to go see her in the hospital when the men appeared in our house. The rest of the story I told already.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs Martinez. We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Danny said. Luke gave him a side glance and stood up.

“If you’ll excuse us. My associate and I need to discuss this,” he said to Martinez.

“By all means.”

Luke took Danny to the bathroom and closed the door behind them. Then he smacked Danny on the back of his head lightly. But Luke’s lightly was still pretty hard.

“What the hell?” Danny said, rubbing his head. “You’ve been acting weird ever since we got here.”

“Danny, you do realise that she’s playing us?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why is she here?”

“She needs help,” Danny said with a shrug. Luke pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Why is she  _here_? She works for Tony Stark, why not go to the Avengers? Or the Fantastic Four? If she knows we caught some of the Latverians, she must know that the FF took over the case.”

“Well, in all fairness, this was our case first,” Danny said, but felt more uncertain by the second and Luke’s frustrated expression didn’t help.

“That doesn't matter. She’s playing us, Danny, and I don’t know what for.”

“Or she honestly needs help.”

“Yes, she does. Desperately. And I do want to get this all sorted out, it’s getting kind of fucked-up, but I ain’t doing it for someone who’s lying to us.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I want to go to sleep,“ Luke said with a deep sigh. “I want that woman out of my home until she tells us the whole truth. We’ll get in touch with the Fantastic Four tomorrow and let them know that Lisa Martinez has been found. We're not taking this case.”

“Okay.”

They got back to Martinez.

“Mrs Martinez,” Danny said, “we’ll take the case.”

Luke groaned behind him.  

 

* * *

 

After promising to help Martinez, Danny had taken her back to her hotel for the night. Luke had been grateful to finally get to bed, but his sleep had been restless as thoughts of Martinez and Danny idiotically taking her case swirled around in his head. Eventually he got up around noon and had breakfast, a slight hangover slowing his thoughts and movements.

“Where’s Danny?” DW asked Luke when he got downstairs. He spoke quietly as there were people in the lobby waiting for a movie to start. Luke didn’t bother answering aside from a shake of his head.

Luke walked to Upper East and to Danny’s house. He didn’t even bother looking around for the man and instead walked straight to his training quarters. As Luke had expected, Danny was in the middle of a practice, intensely focused on what he was doing. Luke stopped by the doorway to watch. Danny kept on moving, doing his punches and kicks against thin air. He stopped to take his shirt off, swiping his face quickly with it, and then continued his practice. Luke’s eyes wandered to the dragon tattoo on Danny’s bare chest. Was it a tattoo? Danny had explained that he had gotten it during his fight with the dragon, but that hadn’t explained much, at least not to Luke.

“Morning,” Luke called when Danny took a break.

“Oh, good morning, Luke,” the kid said. There was fake surprise on his face that told Luke that it indeed was fake.

“You knew I was watching,” Luke commented. “Wait,” he then said and frowned, “is that why you took your shirt off?” Danny looked first startled and then incredibly embarrassed.

“I honestly have no idea why I did that," he said. Then he laughed nervously. "Maybe to test your type?”

“You thought my type might be a sweaty twink?”

“What’s a twink?”

“Never mind.”

Danny’s embarrassment looked unbearable and Luke touched his arm reassuringly. This brought a small smile to Danny’s face.

“I’ll have a quick shower. You go wait in the kitchen, I’ll be right there,” he said and Luke took his leave.

Luke put a pot of coffee on while waiting and rummaged the kitchen to find food for a late lunch. All he found was Asian stuff that he wasn’t sure how to prepare. He settled on fried eggs and was in the middle of cooking when Danny arrived. Danny poured them both cups of coffee while Luke finished the eggs and brought them to the table. 

“I’m sorry about last night,” Danny said as they started eating. “I shouldn’t have accepted the case without your approval.”

“You really shouldn’t have,” Luke said with a sigh. “Please tell me it was the alcohol and not you who was so ready to believe whatever she said.”

“She needs help,” Danny mumbled. “But I’m honestly sorry. I’m an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot. Just a little… trusting. But you’re a good kid, Daniel.” Luke thought back to his own youth and all the stupid shit he had pulled back then. He may have gone to prison on false accusations, but in the beginning he had thought he deserved it. All the grief he had given his family certainly was reason enough to be punished. But then the brutal beatings by racist guards had started and Luke had known those were something he did not deserve. He had had to bear that until the fateful experiment that had given him his powers.

No one would beat him like that ever again.

“Luke? Luke, you with me?”

“Sorry. I spaced out.”

“I asked what we’re going to do next,” Danny said, cocking his head to a side, his still damp curls bobbing with the movement.

“Go see Mrs Martinez, I guess.”

“I’ll get my costume.”


	5. I Owe Him That Much

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late again, sorry! This story turned much more complicated than I had originally planned and it's taking me a bit of extra time to work on the chapters. But better late than never, eh?

Luke may not have been a huge fan of Danny’s costume, but thought it well worth the faces on people when they walked into the hotel. Danny, to his credit, held his head high while the staff and guests whispered to each other as they passed. They walked across the lobby to the receptionist’s desk.

“We’re here to see Lisa Martinez,” Luke said.

“Uh,” the receptionist replied, her gaze going between the two of them. Luke knew that he looked about as out of place at the fancy hotel as Danny in his costume did.

“Could you please tell Mrs Martinez that Iron Fist and Luke Cage are asking for her,” Danny said when the receptionist didn’t move from her spot. He gave her one of the charming smiles he had used on Martinez’s neighbour. The mask concealing half his face took away some of the effect, but the receptionist did smile back.

“Yes, of course. Just a second,” she said and picked up the phone.

People’s stares started to get to Luke as they waited. He could tell that the initial bewilderment was turning into disapproval. He was very relieved when they were told that Martinez was expecting them in her room. They thanked the receptionist and then took an elevator up. Luke felt his shoulders relax the second he and Danny were alone.

“You okay?” 

“Why do you ask?"

"I don't know."

They reached eleventh floor and found the room that the receptionist had given them.

“Mrs Martinez?” Luke called as he knocked on the door.

“It’s open,” came Martinez’s voice from the inside. Luke opened the door and walked in with Danny following after him.

Luke knew that they had made a mistake as soon as the door closed behind them. The lights of the room were off and the curtains were closed. He was about to warn Danny, most likely unnecessarily, when someone grabbed him from behind and put a cloth over his mouth.

Either very classic or very cliché, Luke thought, as whatever he was inhaling made him lose consciousness.

 

* * *

 

Luke didn’t open his eyes immediately after waking up. He listened for any signs of people, but all he could hear was soft humming around him. He was handcuffed and felt woozy from whatever had drugged him. He stayed still, mentally preparing himself for a possible fight.

“Don’t worry, it’s just you and me.”

Luke opened his eyes and saw Danny sitting on the other side of the room they were in. The kid was leaning against a wall, knees drawn up and expression tired.

“Where are we?” Luke asked with a hoarse voice.

“I think it’s a plane of some sort.”

“How long you been awake?”

“About an hour.”

Luke stood up and took a few shaky steps before falling down.

“Shit.”

“I know.”

Luke got up again and this time managed to stumble over to Danny. He leaned against the wall and let himself slide down to sit next to the boy. Then he raised his shackled hands in front of him and tried to break free, but the handcuffs wouldn’t give. He tried to pull harder, but ended up only hurting his wrists.

“What the hell are these made of?” He noticed that Danny was also cuffed and took the kid’s hands into his own. He tried to break the shackle, but it was apparently made of the same material as his was.

“Do you think the Iron Fist could work?” Luke asked.

“I can try, but if we are on a plane, I’d say we save our energy for whatever is to come.”

“Yeah, that does seem smarter.”

There was something about the way Danny was huddled in on himself and his blank face that didn’t suit him. Luke squeezed Danny’s hands which he realised he was still holding in his own. The hands felt strangely warm and Luke idly wondered if it had something to do with the Iron Fist.

“Where do you think we’re going?” Danny asked.

“If it’s the Latverians after Martinez, I’d say it’s pretty obvious.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it’ll be my first time in Europe if nothing else. What about you?”

“I don’t know. I think we went for holidays there when I was a kid, but I can’t remember for sure.” There was always something a little sad about it when Danny spoke of his childhood. His miserable expression and the way he was curled up only emphasised this. Luke didn’t know why the kid looked quite that dejected. Sure the situation was bad, but this wasn’t their first time in a tight spot.

“Do you think Martinez set us up or if she is in trouble as well?” Danny asked then and Luke understood what was eating him.

“No idea,” he said, hoping his tone was kind.

“I’m such a gullible moron. This is all my fault.”

“It’s not your fault,” Luke said. “You may know your mysticism and shit, but I know people. I should have been more careful with Martinez.”

“So, you do think she set us up.”

“I didn’t say so,” Luke said, but he was fairly certain about it. Danny let his head fall against the metal wall and sighed. They sat like that for a while, Luke still holding Danny’s cuffed hands in his lap. Then Danny started slowly leaning towards Luke until his head made light contact with Luke’s shoulder. He glanced up uncertainly and Luke gave him a nod. Danny let his head rest against Luke and his whole body seemed to relax.

Danny had earlier described himself as touch-starved and Luke realised that he might be as well. It had been a while since he had been with Claire or any other woman and it felt good to have someone close to him like this. Their arms were in an awkward twist because of the handcuffs, but Luke used his thumb to lightly stroke Danny’s wrist.

“I wonder how long it’ll take for us to land," he thought out loud.

“Depends on how long we were unconscious. Could be a while.”

“How about you tell me the story about the dragon? To pass time.” Danny smiled at this.

“Well, I was nineteen and after all my years of training I knew I was ready to face Shou Lao the Undying and so I…”

 

Luke had fallen asleep, either still affected by the drugs or due to Danny’s poor story telling skills. His body felt pleasantly heavy as he slept against Danny who sat as still as possible as not to wake the other man. After a while, he felt that the plane started descending. Luke stirred, but didn’t wake up.

Suddenly the door of the room was opened and Lisa Martinez was shoved in. She fell onto her hands and knees and the door was slammed shut behind her.

“Are you alright?” Danny asked as Martinez got up from the floor. He noticed that she was also handcuffed. She shrugged and sat opposite of Danny and Luke. She looked at the way they were leaning on each other and Danny’s hands that were still held in Luke’s.

“I didn’t realise you were boyfriends,” she commented.

“We’re not,” Danny said. Martinez opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly the three of them were thrown onto the floor as the plane made rough contact with the ground.

“What the-?” Luke said, woken up when his head hit the floor. He looked between Danny and Martinez and Danny saw him take in Martinez’s tied hands. Martinez noticed the look as well.

“They held a gun against my head when you came to the door,” she said. “But this whole thing really is my fault. I’m very sorry.”

“How about laying all the cards on the table?” Luke said.

“Yes,” Martinez said, looking very tired. So immaculate the previous night, now her make-up was smudged and her clothes rumpled. “I told you I worked on a sensitive project at Stark Industries and that there were people who had certain interest in it. As a complete fool, I agreed to sell it to the highest bidder. I wish I could give you some noble reason, maybe Maria is ill and we need money for that, but that’d be just one more lie.”

Danny was surprised by the softness on Luke’s face when he listened to Martinez, nodding along as she spoke.

“What was the project you were working on, Mrs Martinez?” Danny asked.

“Weapons.” This Luke frowned at.

“But Tony Stark stopped manufacturing weaponry several years ago,” he said.

“Tony Stark is too busy being an Avenger to know what goes on in his own company. I designed a line of special guns and bombs and decided to sell them. I made an arrangement with an anonymous buyer and it wasn’t until two weeks ago that I found out that I had struck a deal with Victor von Doom. I tried to get out of it, but he wouldn’t allow it. Then…”

“Then we got into the picture,” Luke finished for her.

“I truly am sorry for having dragged you two into this,” Martinez said.

That was all she had time for as the door was opened again and a group of men came to get them. They didn’t speak as they marched Danny and the others out of the plane. There was a line of cars waiting for them at the tiny airport and Danny and Luke were pushed into one while Martinez was taken into another.

“So, this is Latveria,” Danny said quietly as they drove through a small, dirty town. It was raining and the streets were mostly abandoned. Looking at the buildings, it was obvious that people there lived in poverty.

“Shut it back there,” the driver said, speaking with an American accent.

“Can you at least put the radio on?” Luke said with a flippant tone.

“Shut up.”

“C’mon, man, something to sing along with.”

“Shut up or I’ll make you.”

“I’m rating this ride one star.”

 

The short drive took them to a castle. Danny saw Martinez being walked into it before them. She looked back at him with an apologetic expression. Danny tried to smile, but Martinez had already turned her head and she disappeared into the building.

“Move it,” the American driver said and he and others started hustling Danny and Luke towards the castle.

“Nice place,” Luke commented once they were inside. 

“Kinda chilly, though,” Danny said with a carefree voice, as if there weren’t guards all around them, guns ready.

They were brought to a halt in front of huge doors and then made stand there. Luke seemed to have run out of quips and Danny couldn’t think of anything to say either. The gloomy castle and the silent guards were starting to unnerve him. He took a moment to consider their situation. They were in the house of one of the most famous supervillains in the world. An evil genius in every sense of the word as well as a rumoured sorcerer whom none of the mightiest heroes of Earth had been able to subdue.

This whole thing might indeed have been a bit out Danny and Luke’s league.

“Get in,” one of the guards said at last and Luke and Danny were shoved through the doors. They found themselves in a long room, guards standing along the walls, both humans and robots like the ones Luke and Danny had faced with Misty and Colleen. At the end of the room was a large throne, occupied by the master of the house. Doctor Doom was a tall man wearing an iron mask and armour and a somewhat ridiculous hooded cape. The getup may have looked cartoony, but something about the way Doom carried himself gave him an intimidating air.

Danny and Luke were brought in front of Doom and then pushed onto their knees. Danny glared up at the man defiantly. A moment of silence stretched until Doom turned to the men who had brought Danny and Luke from the plane.

“Who the hell are these people?”

A new silence as the men shifted on their feet awkwardly.

“They’re uh, the Fantastic Four, sir.”

Danny didn’t need to see Doom’s face to sense his utter confusion.

“What?”

“Er, they’re Human Torch and the Thing, sir.”

“No… they’re not,” Doom said. Then his voice went from confused to dangerously low. “Doom was told that the Fantastic Four worked with the scientist.”

“I don’t know if it’s insulting or flattering to be mistaken for the FF,” Danny said to Luke, going for his earlier carefree tone.

“I know I’m insulted,” Luke replied. “Do I look like a walking pile of rocks to you?”

“SILENCE.” Danny felt a shiver crawl down his spine at Doom’s voice.

A guard standing by the wall raised her hand uncertainly. Doom turned to her. The woman spoke in a foreign language, but Danny could hear the words Iron Fist and Luke Cage. At least someone recognised them.

“I’ll deal with them later,” Doom said in English once the guard was finished. He rubbed his fingers against the iron mask, probably out of an old habit of rubbing his forehead. “Bring the scientist here. She and I are going to have a long conversation. Take these people away.”

 

* * *

 

“You sure you won’t hit me in the face or anything?” Luke asked.

“Trust me,” Danny said, his fist starting to glow in the dim cell. Luke turned his face the other way and screwed his eyes shut as Danny aimed the Iron Fist at Luke’s handcuffs. Luke felt the force of the punch as a wave against him, but when he opened his eyes, he saw that the shackles were unharmed.

“Shit,” Luke said. He tried to pull at the cuffs yet again, out of pure frustration, but to no avail. He couldn’t understand what kind of metal could be hard enough to withstand both his strength and the power of the Iron Fist.

“Let’s try the door next,” Danny said. Luke went first. He tried to first break the lock and then to simply kick the door in. Nothing. Danny took a moment to concentrate and his hand started glowing again. He seemed to take some extra seconds to truly gather all his energy and then punched at the door.

“Ouch,” he mumbled, staggering around and shaking his hand. He looked worn out and Luke told him to sit down. After that, Luke started going at the walls. But no matter how hard he tried to hit or kick them, he didn’t make even a dent. There was no way out of the cell for them.

Danny rested on the floor while Luke paced in a circle. The windowless room gave him claustrophobia. In his mind, he was back in prison, young and scared, ready to do anything just to get out. He remembered the loneliness and all the pain he had gone through. He was completely alone in the world.

Luke was so deep in his memories that it took him a while to notice that Danny was talking and then to realise that he was talking to someone else.

“Are you okay?” Danny asked, standing by the door.

“Yeah. What about you guys?” came a woman’s voice from outside the room. The voice was muffled by the door and Luke walked closer to press his ear against the metal.

“We’re alright,” Danny said.

“Good,” the voice which Luke was now able to connect to Lisa Martinez said.

“What does Doom want from you?” Luke asked.

“I told you. The weapons I designed.”

“Yeah, but he’s supposed to be a super genius, why does he need you to build him weapons?” Martinez didn’t answer for a while. Danny and Luke looked at each other. Danny’s face, usually so easy to read, was now impossible to interpret.

“I have access to technology that Doom doesn’t,” Martinez finally answered. “Alien technology. I worked on it at Stark Industries and then I… I stole it to sell away. Doom has now had it taken here and he wants me to build the weapons I had designed.”

“But you won’t because…?” Danny said hopefully.

“He’s threatening Maria… Cage… Fist… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“We understand,” Luke said. He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. He would have given anything to be back at home, in his crappy studio above an even crappier movie theatre. DW might have realised something was wrong as Luke hadn’t come home for the night, but who would he be able to contact? It would probably take days for people to realise that Luke and Danny were missing.

“How about we get some sleep?” Danny said softly.

“Yeah.”

 

Without a window, it was impossible to tell the passing of the time in the cell. According to Luke and Danny’s estimations, it had been four days since they had been imprisoned in Doom’s castle. Lisa Martinez had apparently been taken away as they didn’t hear from her after their first conversation. Food was brought in at regular times, pushed through a tiny hatch at the bottom of the door, but that was the only contact they had to anything outside the cell.

“I’m bored,” Danny complained. He was doing push-ups while Luke sat and watched. Either out of years of doctrine (the only word Luke could describe Danny’s training with) or to keep himself busy, Danny had kept on working out during their time in the cell.

It hadn’t been until this that Luke had truly appreciated Danny’s strength. Luke himself hadn’t needed to bother with push-ups ever since the experiment, but Danny’s only superpower was the Iron Fist which he didn’t use in battle except in dire need. It took a lot of work for that lean body to have the strength and stamina to move the way Danny did.

Suddenly, the door of their cell was opened. Danny and Luke both jumped up. Three guards were pointing guns at them.

“Will the one known as Iron Fist follow us,” one of the guards said. Danny stepped forward with Luke following after him.

“Just the kid,” another guard said and fingered the gun in his hand. Danny looked at Luke uncertainly, but then shrugged his shoulders. Luke felt his stomach tighten as he watched the guards take Danny away.

An hour or so passed before Luke heard the door being opened again. Danny walked in and the door was quickly closed behind him. Luke saw a bruise forming on Danny’s left cheek and a trail of blood dripping from his nose.

“Sweet Christmas,” Luke muttered, walking up to Danny and reaching his hand to the boy's face. “What the fuck happened?”

“It’s okay, I’m alright,” Danny said as Luke used his thumb to wipe away the blood.

“What happened?”

“Doom questioned me about the Iron Fist and K’un Lun. Apparently those were both foreign concepts to him. Then he told me to show him the Fist. When I refused, one of the Doombots slapped me. Who the hell programmes a robot to _slap_ someone?” Danny spoke with a light tone and Luke felt like shaking his shoulders in frustration.

“I’m _fine_ ,” Danny said when he noticed Luke’s exasperation.

The door was opened again. The guards who had brought Danny in now motioned for Luke to follow them. Danny’s worried look felt at the same time sort of comforting and sort of depressing.

Luke was taken to the throne room. As a couple of days before, Doctor Doom sat at the throne while guards stood all around the place. This time, however, Lisa Martinez was also present. She was sitting near Doom, looking very small all of a sudden.

“You are the man known as Luke Cage, are you not?” Doom asked once Luke was taken to him. Luke didn’t answer.

“From what I’ve understood, you possess inhumane strength,” Doom continued, as if no answer had been expected in the first place. “This I’m familiar with. Your shackles and cell are designed to keep in Ben Grimm and Doom is glad to see they can hold you in, as well. You, however, appear to have a power I have yet to see. Unbreakable skin, I have been informed.”

Luke glanced at Martinez who averted his gaze.

“Let us now see this ability in action,“ Doom said and the guards around the room walked in on Luke. They raised their guns and Luke closed his eyes. He braced himself, but it still wasn’t enough to prepare for being attacked from all around at the same time.

“Interesting.” Doom’s voice seemed to come from a far distance as Luke tried to ignore the pain he felt all over his body. “The skin indeed is impenetrable.” As Doom had observed, Luke’s clothes may have been torn, but his skin was intact.

“Mrs Martinez,” Doom said, turning to the woman. “I seem to have acquired a test subject for your project. If the technology you are working on is as magnificent as you originally boasted, this man should work as a perfect proof. You have five days to finish your work.”

Luke locked his eyes with Martinez who had tears rolling down her cheeks. Luke gave her a tight smile.

 

“What happened?” Danny asked once Luke was brought back into their cell.

“Nothing. Doom wanted to see my powers and that was it.”

“Your clothes are full of bullet holes.”

“And here I am,” Luke said, taking place by Danny on the cold floor. “Everything’s alright, kid.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.”


	6. Light It Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the wait yet again. Hope you enjoy this new chapter!

Luke and Danny were given a chance to have a shower on what they estimated to be their seventh day as prisoners. Back in the cell, Luke rubbed his beard which had started to grow wild. He wished that he had been allowed to shave, but he was grateful just to feel clean again. He had also been given new clothes to replace the ones Doom’s minions had ruined with their guns. That had been unpleasant. But from what Luke had understood, things were about to get even more unpleasant with Martinez being forced to build her super weapons that Doom intended to test on Luke.

Luke wondered what would happen to Danny. He turned to look at the kid who was sitting in the middle of the room with his legs crossed and eyes closed.

It was weird seeing Danny like that. When Luke thought about him, he always saw him in motion, be it fighting or restless leg bouncing. But now Danny had sat perfectly still for around three hours, ever since he had returned from his turn at the shower. He had left their cell in the Iron Fist costume, but come back with similar dark grey clothes that Luke had been given. Even his mask was gone. He’d barely nodded at Luke and then mumbled that he was going to meditate for a while.

Fast forward three hours to Luke being bored out of his skull and Danny still in meditation.

What would happen to Danny, Luke asked himself again. They were just two nobodies, accidentally thrown into the middle of something much bigger than them. Doom’s only interest in Luke seemed to be using him as a guinea pig. If he couldn’t find a way to take advantage of Danny’s abilities, Luke expected him to eventually let the kid go. There was no point in keeping him there and despite of everything, Luke couldn’t see Doom executing someone in cold blood just to be rid of them.

The little hatch at the bottom of the door was opened and a tray of food was pushed through.

“Daniel?” Luke said. “Danny, food’s here.” There was no response and Luke wasn’t sure if he was supposed to disrupt Danny while he was doing whatever it was that he was doing. But Luke decided that he was tired of being alone with his thoughts and he nudged Danny with his toe.

“Huh?” Danny said and opened his eyes. He looked at Luke in a sort of dazed way.

“Dinnertime,” Luke replied and pushed the tray towards Danny.

“Oh.” This seemed to bring Danny back to present. They picked up the plates and started eating.

“Ew. I don’t care if this is some sacred Latverian dish, it’s disgusting,” Danny said after a few bites and put his fork down.

“Much better than what they served us back in prison,” Luke said. Partly because it was true and partly just to see Danny’s face go from his disgust to a moment of confusion and then to awkwardness. It was highly amusing, but it was obvious that Danny felt bad about his comment and Luke leaned forward to punch him lightly on the shoulder.

“Just joking,” he said. “But do eat. Keep your strength up.”

“For what? Just sitting on my ass?”

“Is that what you’ve been doing for three hours?”

“No. Well, yes. But no. I needed it to calm myself,” Danny said. Then he frowned. “Wait, three hours? Honestly?”

“Well, I ain’t got a clock on me, but that’s what I’d say.”

“Huh.”

“What of it?”

“My old teacher would be proud. I was never as good at meditation as I was with other things.”

“Problem with patience?”

“Something like that.”

They finished eating and put the food tray out through the hatch. Luke sat back down while Danny took a moment to stretch his back and legs. Then he sat down as well and instead of the usual fidgeting or complaints of being bored, there was an air of peacefulness to him.

“You said you needed the meditation to calm yourself?” Luke said. It really was strange seeing Danny like this.

“Uh, yeah,” Danny answered, looking a little sheepish. “Being stuck in this tiny room was driving me nuts. And then these,” he gestured at the new clothes. “I may have yelled at our guards when they took my costume away. I’m not sure if they understood everything I said, but they seemed to find the situation incredibly funny.”

Luke couldn’t really blame the guards. But he knew that the costume meant a lot to Danny and he felt sorry for the kid.

“You can get a new one made once you’re back home,” he said. Danny stared at him for a moment, maybe expecting Luke to finish the words as a joke, but when Luke kept his face serious, Danny smiled.

“Maybe.”

Suddenly the door was opened, revealing two guards.

“Iron Fist, Doctor Doom wishes to speak with you,” one of them said. Danny raised his eyebrows and got up. He stood in place for a moment uncertainly, but when the guards' hands reached for the guns they were carrying, he followed them out of the room quietly. He turned to give Luke a small wave before the door was closed behind him.

Once alone, Luke buried his face into his hands.

 

It took longer this time for Danny to get back. Luke did his best not to think about the bruise that still hadn't faded nor the bloodied nose. Instead, he thought about home.

People must have noticed that they were missing by now. And at least Misty and Colleen knew that the people they had been involved with were Latverians. But would they be ready to jump into conclusions as to where they now were? And what could they do even if they did figure out that Luke and Danny were prisoners in Castle Doom?

Luke was snapped out his thoughts as the door was opened once more and Danny walked in. Luke jumped to his feet and without thinking took the kid’s face into his hands. He looked for any sign of harm, but there was nothing but the old bruise.

“It’s alright, Luke,” Danny said with a soft voice. The tone sounded almost patronising and Luke realised just how worried he had been and how much that must have shown on his face. The two of them sat down, side by side.

“What did Doom want?” Luke asked.

“To hear more about K’un Lun,” Danny replied. “I refused to speak at first, but finally figured that there was no harm. I wasn’t forced to talk, not really, just… I don’t know. He was suddenly really polite. Not like the last time.” Here Danny started looking embarrassed. “I don’t really get it. I told him everything he wanted to know about both K’un Lun and the Iron Fist. It all just came out.”

“I’ve heard Doom can be oddly charming,” Luke offered.

“Yeah.”

“Did you see Martinez?” Luke asked and Danny shook his head.

“I guess she’s busy building those weapons of hers.”

“I guess.”

Luke surprised himself with the realisation that he didn’t hold a huge grudge against Martinez. She was definitely not a very good person, but Luke understood that being blackmailed through her wife was horrible. Luke wondered what he would do in a similar situation. If someone was threatening for example Claire or Jessica, hell even Danny, how far would Luke go to protect them?

“Luke?” Danny said, the patronising softness back. “Is everything alright?”

“A bit cold in here,” Luke said for the lack of anything better to say. Danny bit his lip for a moment and then reached out his cuffed hands towards Luke. He stopped and looked up questioningly and at Luke’s nod, carefully closed his hands around Luke’s. Danny’s palms were strangely warm as they had been on the plane and Luke wondered again if it was connected to the Iron Fist. Danny’s hands were smaller than Luke’s and looked a bit funny enclosed around Luke’s large fists, but the warmth felt nice.

They sat like that for a while. Then Danny leaned his head against Luke’s shoulder. His curly hair tickled Luke’s cheek.

“Doom wants to try Martinez’s weapons on me.” Luke had no idea why he said that. Danny tensed against his body at the words. “To use my invulnerability as a test to the power of the weapons.”

“Huh.”

“She’s got two days to finish the project.” Danny stared straight ahead of him and responded with just an absent-minded hum. Luke gently broke his hands free from Danny’s hold and then used them to grip the boy’s hands in turn. He kneaded the knuckles and felt some of the tension in Danny’s body ease.

“She wouldn’t do that to you,” Danny said, still staring straight ahead.

“I don’t think she has a choice.”

“Also, we don’t know what kinds of weapons she is building,“ Danny continued, ignoring Luke’s comment. “I mean, Doombots’ laser guns back in New York were really bad, but not even they were able to cause you serious harm.” The barely healed broken ribs seemed pretty serious harm to Luke, but the kid did have a point. Luke found it hard to imagine a gun that would be powerful enough to injure him like other people.

“There he is,” he commented. Danny looked confused and Luke smiled. “The optimistic idiot you were when we met. I didn’t even realise just how mopey you’ve been throughout this case until now. That’s not you.”

“Glad to be back?” Danny said uncertainly, but with a smile tugging at his lips.

“You’re right, too,” Luke continued. “You can be pretty smart, you know.”

"And here I thought I was the one with the looks,” Danny laughed. It was a nice, increasingly familiar sound and Luke thought that, like Martinez, he would go to quite some lengths to protect people around him.

 

* * *

 

Danny was having a nightmare.

He walked through the ruins of K’un Lun, buildings burning and crumbling down around him, but he paid no heed to them. As he neared the edge of the city, he started growing smaller. By the time he reached the gates, he was a child, nine years old and watching wolves tear apart his mother. In his memories, he had been dragged away from the scene and taken into the city. In this dream, he calmly looked on, listening to the screams of his mother. It wasn’t until the screams had died and the wolves run away that Danny walked closer. He was a grown man again when he got to the body and he crouched down for a better look. Suddenly the body wasn’t his mother's anymore and it was not alone. All around Danny, people he knew lay unmoving. Colleen. Luke. Jessica. Matt. Misty. Even Lisa and Maria Martinez. Danny straightened up again and walked away, over the bridge leading away from K’un Lun, into the snowy mountains, never looking back.

Danny woke up drenched in cold sweat. He hastily stood up, shaking his limbs and head as if that would shake the dream away as well. He ran a hand through his curls and took in several deep breaths. Parts of the dream were starting to fade away already, but what had really gotten him was the sense of _guilt_ , of _failure_ , and those burned in his mind.

“Shit,” he murmured to himself. It had all been so vivid. Real memories thrown in together with fears and insecurities.

“Danny?”

Danny actually jumped at the sound. Then he remembered where he was and with whom and he felt immediate embarrassment.

“Go back to sleep, Luke,” he said, startling himself with the sharpness of his voice. Luke sat up from where he had slept and looked up at Danny, blinking his eyes in the dim light.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Just a bad dream. It’s okay,” Danny replied, dragging his hand through his hair again. It was sticky with sweat. “Go to sleep.”

“Is there something I can do?” Luke asked instead. Danny rubbed his eyes with his fists.

“I’m honestly alright.”

“Come here.” Luke’s voice was deep and slightly hoarse from sleep. Being commanded by it felt somehow good. A simple order. Something not even Danny could fuck up. Like he did so many things.

“Sit down,” Luke said next and Danny sat in front of him obediently.

“Turn around.” Danny turned around, facing away from Luke. Then he felt hands on his back. The handcuffs limited Luke’s range of movements, but he used one hand to massage Danny’s shoulder and the other to rub his neck. He worked through the tensions in both shoulders while Danny sat in silence. Danny allowed his mind to quiet down completely and closed his eyes.

Too soon, Luke finished and patted Danny’s back in a clear “that was it” sign. But then the hands were on Danny again and they guided him to lie down on the floor. Danny squirmed around a little to find a comfortable position, lying on his back and holding his hands over his chest, and then worked consciously on relaxing his body. He started with the toes and moved up until he felt all his muscles rest.

“Better?” Luke whispered.

“Much,” Danny said.

Luke got down onto the floor as well, close to Danny, but not quite touching. But he was still close enough for Danny to feel the warmth of his body and he fell asleep to the thought that no matter what, he wouldn’t let anything to happen to this man.

 

* * *

 

Morning arrived, judged by the tray of toast and eggs that was slid into the cell through the hatch. Danny shook Luke awake and they ate. Luke didn’t ask about the nightmare and Danny was grateful for it. He wouldn’t have been able to tell what it had been about anyway. The dream had mostly disappeared from his mind during the sleep.

After breakfast, Danny started working out. He missed being able to do proper practice, but he had made sure to keep in shape nevertheless. At some point Luke started counting his push-ups out loud in obvious amusement. Eventually his loud counting dragged a laugh out of Danny as well and he gave up on the push-ups and moved onto crunches.

“How do you find the motivation to do all that?” Luke asked once Danny was finished. Danny didn't quite understand the question which Luke noticed. “Never mind,” he said, but with a kind tone.

“I just wish we had access to the shower,” Danny said. He had stripped down to his underwear for the workout to keep his clothes at least somewhat clean, but since he had nothing to swipe the sweat off with, it helped only a little.

“Man, I’m hungry,” he said once he had clothed himself. They were not being starved to death, but the three meals a day deal wasn’t enough to keep up with his workout.

“Your own fault,” Luke said. He still seemed amused by Danny’s training.

Danny was about to answer when they heard the lock of the door turn. Danny felt his heart stop at the sound. He thought about what Luke had said about Martinez's deadline being that day. They both stood up when the door was opened. 

This time there were six guards altogether, all of them with guns ready in their hands. 

"Cage, follow us."

Danny stepped in front of Luke and didn't realise how ridiculous that must have looked until he saw some of the guards grinning. Luke put his hand on Danny's shoulder.

"What if I refuse?" he asked. "Think you can make me?"

"We'll shoot your partner." The guard's words were self-confident, but she looked nervous.

A moment of silence followed. Then Luke sighed. He gave Danny's shoulder a squeeze and walked past him. Danny felt an urge to grab his arm and hold him back, but Luke had walked up to the guards before he could react. 

"See you later, Daniel."

"See you, Luke."

Then Luke and the guards were gone. Danny didn't move from his spot for a while. Maybe this wasn't about Martinez's weapons. Maybe Luke was just being questioned like Danny had been before. Maybe. And what if it was about the weapons? Luke's unbreakable skin gave him resilience to attacks of different kinds. He would be alright. Maybe.

 

An hour passed with Danny walking around the cell. Another with him sitting and meditating. Then something happened. Danny opened his eyes from the meditation and noticed a slip of paper that someone must have slid in through the hatch.

Danny picked the note up and to his confusion saw that it was a business card. It had a phone number and text "Nightwing Restorations" printed on it. The words meant nothing to Danny and he turned the card over. He found a handwritten message on the other side.

_Five minutes. Stand clear from the door._

Danny turned the card around several times as if that would make it make more sense. Then suddenly he heard ear-splitting sirens starting to scream around the castle. He looked at the handwritten message again and then quickly got as far from the door as possible.

Mere seconds later, the door was literally blown open and Danny saw figures standing in the corridor with large guns in their hands.


	7. Well, I, uh, suppose I did

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Straying away from the chapter title theme (if anyone happens to pay attention to it). I've been using quotations from the Defenders, but this is from one of my favourite powerfist moments in the comics. Anyway, we're getting near to the end! Hope you've enjoyed this story!

It became harder for Luke to believe in Danny’s optimism with each step he took away from their cell. He couldn’t help feeling like he was on death row as he was marched onwards with guards on all sides. He tried to recall Danny’s earlier determination, the way he had leaned on Luke, the warmth of his hands, but all Luke could see was his pale face and wide eyes when Luke had been taken away.

If something really was going to happen to Luke, Danny would probably feel guilty.

_I’m such a gullible moron. This is all my fault._

Yes, Luke was fairly certain that the kid would blame himself. There was only one thing Luke could do about it. Make it back to Danny in one piece.

He briefly considered knocking out the guards around him right there and then, look for the key to their cell, and then go back to free Danny. But Luke had seen video cameras all around the hallways and figured that he wouldn’t get far.

He would play along for now and see what was to come.

The guards took Luke several floors up where the medieval castle suddenly turned into hyper modern research labs. There were few people working in the rooms alongside the corridor, however, and Luke presumed that the labs were mostly for Doom’s personal use.

“In there,” one of the guards said and pushed Luke into the last room.

“Welcome, Mr Cage,” Doctor Doom said without turning from where he was by the window. It struck Luke how tall the man was now that he saw him standing. The iron mask muffled Doom’s voice a little, but it still carried across the room to Luke. “Have a seat.”

Luke didn’t move. Doom turned around to spare him an unimpressed look.

“I insist,” he said and the guards still surrounding Luke shoved him towards a chair. Luke gave in and sat down. It wasn’t until then that he noticed Lisa Martinez. The woman was sitting in a corner behind a computer, typing quietly. She didn’t look at Luke.

“No need to look so grim, Mr Cage,” Doom said, bringing Luke’s attention back to him, “you’re here to serve science. The devices Mrs Martinez has designed require a special test subject and you fit our requirements perfectly.”

For a reason he couldn’t quite understand himself, Luke laughed. It was short, but felt good. And if nothing else, Martinez’s head snapped up at the sound and she finally looked at Luke. Luke, however, was focused on Doom. The man had stiffened at Luke’s sudden laugh and didn’t seem to know how to react to it. Luke took advantage of this short confusion and stood up from the chair. He walked to Doom, stopping mere feet away from him.

“I would advise you to sit back down,” Doom said, his voice calm and even. He sounded almost bored.

“What’s going to happen to my partner?” Luke asked instead of backing down.

“Iron Fist will stay as my guest. I wish to find out more about his powers,” Doom answered.

“What’s going to happen to him?” Luke repeated himself, emphasising every word. Doom turned his head to a side and his eyes seemed to pierce right through Luke.

“The boy won’t be harmed, Mr Cage, granted that he co-operates. I only want to learn.”

“And after that?”

“If I say that he will be let go, will you stop asking and have a seat?” Doom seemed to be growing impatient. Luke didn't make a move. “Doom is a man of his word,” Doom said then. Luke held his gaze a moment longer and then shrugged his shoulders. He walked back to the chair and sat down.

Doom turned to Martinez who stood up. The scientists Luke had seen in the other labs came in, carrying with them three cases. They set them on a table and took out notepads, looking at Martinez expectantly.

Martinez opened the first case and took out a gun that looked vaguely familiar to Luke.

“This is a modified Chitauri laser blaster,” Martinez said, presenting the gun to Doom. “Used in the 2012 attack in New York. My team and I turned it into an electroshock weapon and built in settings ranging from stun to lethal. With the Chitauri technology we have used, it should have enough power to work even on people with different superpowers.”

Luke eyed the gun warily. He knew from experience that the unbreakable skin gave him protection against mild electric shocks, but if Martinez was speaking the truth, this had a bit more juice than a Taser.

“Let’s see it,” Doom said. Martinez handed the weapon to one of the other scientists. The young man looked thrilled to be holding it. He walked a bit closer to Luke and aimed the gun at him. His team started scribbling notes immediately.

Luke kept his eyes on Martinez. There was a strange look on her face, but Luke had no time to reflect upon it as the young man with the gun pulled the trigger. Luke’s whole body started shaking uncontrollably and he fell off the chair. The pain and the shakes were familiar; he had been at the receiving end of stun guns and batons before his superpowers.

Luke tried to get back up, but his legs wouldn’t carry and he fell back to the floor. His ears were ringing and he couldn’t concentrate on what was being said around him.

The ringing got louder and it wasn’t until Luke saw Doom shouting at the guards that he realised it wasn’t just him. Loud alarms rang around the castle. The guards ran out of the room while Doom turned to the window, staring at whatever was going on outside. Then he said something to Martinez before rushing after the guards.

Martinez spoke to her scientist team and they left the room without even a glance at Luke who was still unable to get off the floor.

 

* * *

 

“Danny?” a familiar voice said. Then one of the figures threw the gun she had held away and ran to Danny, wrapping her arms around him.

“Colleen?” Danny asked, breath knocked out by the tight hug. Colleen laughed against his neck and Danny felt his heart clench.

“How dare you go and get kidnapped again,” Colleen said and let go of Danny. Danny noticed that she had tears in her eyes and realised that so did he. “You do this again and I’ll kill you.”

“I’ll do my best to avoid it,” Danny answered. He turned to the other figure in the hallway and now recognised her as Misty. She walked over with her gun and used it to break Danny's shackles before giving him a friendly handshake. Her hand felt oddly cold and hard.

“Wait, didn’t you-“

“Lose my arm? Yes. Check this out,” Misty said and flexed her arm which Danny could now tell was actually mechanic. He felt a pang of guilt when he thought that it was ultimately his fault that Misty had gotten hurt back at Midland Circle. It was him who the Hand had been after and, as Colleen had just pointed out, he had let himself be kidnapped. But Misty didn't seem to be thinking about this and she smiled at Danny warmly.

Danny took a new look at the business card he had picked up and raised his eyebrow at Misty and Colleen.

“PI agency Nightwing Restorations, investigators Knight and Wing, at you service,” Misty said. “We may have gotten the idea from Jessica Jones.”

“Cool.”

Colleen brought her fingers to her ear and nodded as if listening to someone speak. Danny looked at Misty questioningly, but she seemed to be listening as well.

“We’ve got one of them, Mr Richards,” Colleen said. “Yes. Yes. Roger that.”

“Richards as in…?” Danny said when Colleen turned back to him. He noticed that both she and Misty were wearing comm pieces in their ears.

“As in Reed Richards,” Colleen said with a sly smile. “We’re here with the Fantastic Four. Misty and I were able to trace your steps to a hotel and concluded that something unexpected happened there. We got in touch with the FF after that and worked with them to find you guys.”

“How did you figure out we were here?”

“Richards hacked Doom’s computers. He sent an encoded message to Martinez who confirmed that you and Luke were being held prisoners. She sent us all the information she could without Doom noticing it. The Fantastic Four are outside right now, creating a diversion so that we can break you and Luke out.”

“Oh shit. Luke.” Danny felt very cold all of a sudden. He had no idea where Luke had been taken to or what had happened to him. “We have to go,” he said and walked past Colleen and Misty who picked up their guns and followed. Danny asumed that the gizmos had been provided by Reed Richards. It was weird seeing Colleen hold a gun and he could tell that she felt uncomfortable with it.

The hallways were deserted, giving the castle a very sinister air. The sirens had finally stopped and Danny could hear loud commotion coming from outside. It seemed like seeing his nemesis suddenly show up on his front lawn had seriously flipped Doom out. Danny only hoped that the Fantastic Four could keep up their diversion long enough.

As Danny had no idea where Luke was, he checked the only places of the castle that he knew. The long throne room and a study where Doom had interrogated him. Both were abandoned and Danny felt panic building up inside of him. 

As they left the study, they heard hurried footsteps from around the corner. Danny motioned for the others to be quiet and got into a fighting stance, readying himself to stop whoever was running towards them.

The footsteps got closer and to his surprise, Danny saw Lisa Martinez turn the corner. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed them. Danny saw her take a look at the guns that Misty and Colleen were carrying and she took a couple of steps backwards.

“They’re friends, Mrs Martinez,” Danny said quickly. Martinez squinted her eyes at him.

“Iron Fist?” she asked and Danny realised belatedly that this was the first time she saw him without the mask. She stared at him for a moment, taking in his face, and then turned to Misty and Colleen. “You must be the detectives working with the FF? I was on my way to free Iron Fist from the cell, but obviously you beat me to it.”

“Mrs Martinez, where’s Luke?” Danny cut in. Martinez didn’t answer for a while. She opened her mouth once, but closed it again. Danny glanced at Colleen and Misty, the latter of whom was glaring at Martinez intensely, seeing something there that Danny did not.

“Where is he?” she asked, stepping closer to Martinez.

“Of course. This way,” Martinez said and even Danny was able to pick up on the reluctance. But Martinez turned on her heels and motioned for Danny and the others to follow. They ran up to higher floors. Danny marvelled at the change in their surroundings as they reached a floor filled with laboratories.

Martinez led them to the one at the end of the corridor and opened the door.

 

“Luke!”

Luke would have grinned, but his muscles still had a hard time co-operating and he ended up doing a weird grimace instead. He tried once more to get up from the floor and managed to do so by holding onto a nearby table.

Misty, who had called his name, walked over to help him stand. She aimed a gun she had on her at Luke's handcuffs and destroyed them.

“I knew you and Colleen would figure out where we are,” Luke said to her. He looked over at Colleen who gave him a quick smile. She was talking rapidly to a comm piece.

Beside Colleen, there was Danny. He was staring at Luke with the wide eyes that had haunted Luke for the past three hours. A sudden explosion from outside drew all of their attention before Luke had a chance to say anything to the boy.

“We must go,” said Martinez whom Luke hadn’t noticed until now. The woman’s face was flustered and she was already halfway out of the room. There was something curious about her expression.

“Mr Richards, we’re on our way down,” Misty said to her comm. She let go of Luke who fell immediately to his knees. Danny was by his side in a second.

“Now!” Martinez shouted from the door.

“C’mon, buddy,” Danny said and helped Luke up, but Luke’s legs weren’t still quite working. To his astonishment, Martinez ran to them and together with Danny managed to get Luke out to the corridor with Misty and Colleen at their heels.

“Shit,” Luke said when he fell down yet again. The Chitauri gun had really done a number on him. Suddenly Danny crouched down in front of him.

“Get on.” Luke had to laugh.

“You’ll break your back,” he said.

“C’mon!” Martinez shouted from ahead. Danny stubbornly grabbed Luke’s arms and wrapped them around his neck. Luke gave in and got onto Danny’s back. The kid staggered around at first, but was able to steady himself and started jogging onward with Luke on his back and Colleen, Misty and Martinez by their side.

“Holy shit,” Luke mumbled, truly impressed by Danny's strength.

“Don’t mutter in my ear, it tickles,” Danny said. Luke huffed a laugh into Danny’s hair.

They made it to the stairway when there was an explosion behind them. Danny almost lost his balance as he turned around. The glass walls of the labs were broken and Luke saw fire in the one at the end of the corridor. He turned to Martinez who had her eyes on him already.

“Is that the only one?” Luke asked.

“No,” she answered. “We have to go. Now.”

“Wait, that was you?” Danny said incredulously. Martinez didn’t answer. She started running down the stairs, but stopped at the end to wait for them. Danny had to move by the walls where Luke could help steady him.

“You planning to blow up the whole castle?” Luke asked once they reached Martinez.

“I need to destroy my research. There are two bombs up in the labs and one on the third floor.”

“You do realise that a bomb on the third floor could bring the whole place down?”

“I know my own work, Mr Cage.”

Their escape was interrupted by an appearance of a group of Doombots, no doubt there to check up on the explosions. Colleen and Misty used their guns to take them out and they continued their way down.

Luke could tell that Danny was growing tired and that it would be only a matter of time before he would collapse under Luke’s weight. Luke told him to stop and the fact that Danny obeyed at the first command was proof enough that he really was exhausted.

“It’s alright, I feel better now,” Luke said. He found that he was able to walk as long as he leaned against a wall. But he was going slowly and wondered if the electroshock had caused permanent damage. “Just go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.”

“We’ll all get out of here together,” Colleen said. Martinez looked like she wanted to object, but stayed with them as they continued their slow way down. She kept on looking at her wrist watch and by the time they reached the next floor, her face went pale.

“We’re not going to make it before the last explosion,” she said. Misty was talking to her comm piece again.

"Sue Storm will be here," she said. "She can cover the bomb inside a force field."

"She won't get here in time," Martinez replied.

Luke grabbed her arm.

“Where is it?” he asked. Martinez searched his face for something and seemed to find it as she nodded.

“The floor we just left. First room on the right. I made sure that it had supporting framework. This place is going to come down.”

“Daniel,” Luke said and the kid stepped closer. Luke didn’t need to explain. Danny crouched down again and his lean body took on Luke’s weight once more. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could and found the room Martinez had mentioned. Once there, he let Luke down and slumped against a table.

“Hey, this is where Doom interrogated me,” he said between his pants.

“Can you see the bomb?” Luke asked, stumbling around the room as well as his legs would carry. To his relief, he didn’t have to search for long. A time bomb was taped to a wall. Luke ripped it off, hoping that this wouldn’t set it off. It didn’t. He looked at the digital numbers counting down.

“What now?” Danny asked, walking closer to Luke.

“We’ll throw it out of a window at the last moment and hope it doesn’t hit anything or anyone.”

“How much time we have?”

“Two minutes or so. Let’s move fast.”

“Alright.” Danny rushed to the door with Luke behind him. However, as soon as the kid was out of the room, Luke slammed the door shut and locked it. Danny started banging his fists against the door from the other side, but Luke didn’t pay attention to it. He looked at the clock’s digital numbers go down from ten seconds.

He got down onto the floor and curled up over the bomb, praying that his body would be enough to hold in the explosion. He heard the final tick of the clock.

 

It took a moment for Danny to register what had happened. One second, Luke was behind him, carrying the bomb to go get rid of it. The next, Luke had closed the door behind Danny and locked it. It took another moment to realise what Luke was planning.

“Luke!” Danny shouted and pounded the door. There was no answer.

Danny was about to summon the Iron Fist to break the door when the explosion happened. It was loud and Danny mentally prepared himself for the walls to come down, but nothing happened.

Instead of using the Iron Fist, Danny kicked the door open, tasting bile in his mouth after all the running and the panic.

Luke was in the middle of the room, lying face down, and holding something underneath him. Danny ran to his side. He turned Luke over and saw remains of the bomb. Luke’s gamble had paid off. Too bad he wasn’t there to witness it himself.

“Holy crap,” Misty gasped. She, Colleen and Martinez had caught up with Danny. Misty joined Danny by Luke's side and checked his pulse. She moved Luke wordlessly into a better position and started pumping his chest, but stopped quickly. "Basically all of his ribs seem to be broken,” she said. "I don't think I dare to press his chest. But his heartbeat is weakening." Danny put his fingers on Luke’s throat to check the pulse. There was barely any.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“I think we’re losing him,” Misty said with a shaky voice. She looked up at Danny and there was desperation in her eyes. Danny gently put his hands on Misty’s.

“Let me try something.” Confused, Misty pulled away and let Danny get closer to Luke. “I’ve never done this on my own,” Danny said as he took Luke’s hands into his own, ”but it’s worth a shot.”

“But what-“

“Colleen, I’m sorry, but I need to really concentrate.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Yes,” Danny said. Hell no, he thought.

Danny focused his _chi_ and guided it to his hands, calling the Iron Fist. Colleen was speaking again, but Danny didn’t hear her words. If he didn’t do this right, there was a chance he would end up killing both himself and Luke. But he owed it to the man. It was Danny's fault he was in this mess.

Danny tried to recall everything he had been told about using the Iron Fist for healing. In his mind, he was back in K’un Lun with Lei Kung, listening to his teacher’s words and wondering if he would ever be able to do it on his own. He held onto Luke’s hands tighter. He channelled his own life essence into Luke and tied it around Luke’s own energy. Then he guided this to Luke’s by now fully stopped heart.

After a moment, the heart started beating again, weakly at first, but growing stronger. Danny heard Misty report this to the others, but he kept his focus on Luke. The man had a lot of broken and fractured bones, some of which were pressing against his lungs. Danny wasn’t able to completely heal the bones, but with effort, he managed to bend them away from the organs.

He was glad that Luke was unconscious as that must have hurt like hell.

Once Luke’s breathing became steady and Danny was sure his heart was alright, he slowly let go. His eyesight was blurry and his head ached. The physical strain of having carried Luke earlier combined with the mental exhaustion made it impossible for him to stay upright and he fell onto his side.

“It’s alright, Danny,” Colleen whispered to his ear. “Rest now.”

Danny allowed himself to pass out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expect the last chapter in about a week and a half :)


	8. Heroes for Hire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, kids! Thanks for everyone who read this story and a special thank you to Ironwingedhawk for all the support. Enjoy this last chapter :)

Luke woke up to a hand raising his wrist to check his pulse. The strange thing was that there was no sight of the owner of the hand. It let go of his wrist and retreated to the other side of the room where Luke saw a man sitting by a table, going through files and muttering to himself. Luke had only talked with him over the phone, but knew immediately who the man was.

“Reed Richards?” he croaked with a raspy voice and sat up on the bed someone had taken him to. He immediately regretted moving as it triggered a wave of pain in his chest. Broken ribs again.

“Ah, Mr Cage,” Richards said and glanced at Luke before turning back to his work. “I’ll be with you in a second.” As he leafed through his papers, Richards used his other hand to pick up a glass of water and offered it to Luke. It was more than creepy to watch the man’s arm stretch about fifteen feet to reach Luke.

“Where are we?” Luke asked after he had drunk the water.

“On our way to New York,” Richards said with an absent-minded air. Luke wanted to ask more, but it seemed like he wouldn’t get much out of the man while he read. Instead of asking then, Luke took inventory of the room they were in. It looked like a makeshift medical room with another bed near to Luke’s, separated by a screen. From the windows, Luke could see that they were flying over an ocean.

Luke lay back down. His memories were fuzzy, but if he wasn’t completely mistaken, his desperate plan to take the brunt of Martinez’s bomb had worked. He remembered the loud noise and the pain that had followed, but after that there was just darkness.

Richards finally finished his work and walked over to Luke.

“How do you feel, Mr Cage?” 

“Where are the others?”

“Here on our plane,” Richards said and took a seat by Luke’s bed. “The detectives and Lisa Martinez are in the lounge with my wife. Your partner is here in the infirmary.”

“Danny? What happened to him?” Luke said and quickly rose from the bed. His head started spinning as soon as he did and he would have fallen over if Richards hadn't grabbed his arm and helped him steady himself.

Luke got his bearings and took a few tentative steps forward. To his relief, his legs were able to carry him again. He walked around some more to make sure that Martinez's gun's effect truly was over. Then he remembered why he’d gotten up in the first place and hurried to the bed that had been separated from his.

Sure enough, Danny lay there. He was still in the grey clothes that they had been given at the castle. They were ill-fitted and didn’t suit the boy at all. He lay on his back, unmoving, but his breath was deep and regular. His blonde curls fell over his closed eyes. He would need a haircut once they were back home, Luke thought.

Luke took the chair Richards had sat on and set it by Danny’s bed.

“What’s wrong with him?” he asked, eyes not leaving Danny’s pale face.

“I don’t know,” Richards said from behind Luke.

“What do you mean, you don't know? Aren’t you supposed to be the smartest man on Earth?”

“Your host of the past nine days would disagree with that,” Richards said and there was humour in his voice. Luke turned to him with a scowl. Richards cleared his throat. “When I arrived to the scene you and your partner were both unconscious,” he told. “The explosions in the castle halted everything else. We were able to move you to this plane without further fight. Victor pulled his usual ‘you’re on Latverian soil illegally’ card and told us to leave.”

“I don’t care,” Luke said impatiently. “What happened to Danny?”

“From what Misses Knight and Wing have told me, he used his superpower to more or less bring you back to life.”

“Huh.”

“This seemed to sap away his own strength and he’s been unconscious since then. But don’t be too alarmed, Mr Cage,” Richards said with a surprisingly soft tone, “I can’t find any physical harm in him. At first, I was afraid he was in a coma of some sort, but it looks like he’s only sleeping. I expect him to wake up naturally.”

“When?”

“Could be an hour, could be days. I’m truly sorry, Cage, I’m a scientist, not a sorcerer. Magic has always been the one thing that I cannot understand, no matter how hard I try to find the logic behind it.”

“Okay,” Luke said, rubbing his face. He felt exhausted as hell. “Sure.”

“How about you join us for dinner? You and your partner both seem a little underfed.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Luke said though food sounded wonderful. Richards nodded.

“Iron Fist will be alright,” the man said with confidence. “I hope that the young man will allow me to interview him once he’s awake. I’ve never heard of the dimension where he apparently grew up in. Neither do I have any knowledge of the power you call the Iron Fist. I would very much like to learn more about it.”

“You and Doom make a beautiful couple,” Luke said tiredly. Richards looked puzzled. “Food sounds like a good idea,” Luke continued and got up from the chair. He followed Richards out of the room and to a lounge where he found Colleen and Misty. Both walked over to hug him. It hurt Luke's ribs, but he hugged them back tightly.

“Anyone care to tell me what happened?”

 

* * *

 

Danny woke up to his ears popping. He opened his eyes and saw from a window that he was on a plane making its descent. He rose and walked closer to the window. They were in New York. However, instead of one of the airports, the plane was flying right over the city. This confused Danny until he saw a tall building that they seemed to be heading for. He was apparently with the Fantastic Four.

Danny sat back down on the bed to keep steady for the landing, but this turned out to be unnecessary. The plane stopped in air to hover over the building and then landed vertically with zero disturbance.

The engines died and Danny stood up again. His limbs felt heavy and he had a splitting headache, but otherwise he felt alright.

There were voices outside the room and Danny walked to the door. He stopped to listen, but wasn't able to make out the words. He reached for the handle, but the door was opened from the other side, suddenly and with great force, hitting Danny straight in the face.

“Danny!” Danny had no time to react as strong hands grabbed him and lifted him up in the air. He hit his head hard on the metal ceiling.

“Oh shit, sorry.”

“First you beat him with the door and then the ceiling? After all the worrying we've done over him?”

“Didn’t mean to.”

“Luke?” Danny said once his vision stopped swimming and his eyes were able to focus. Luke looked up at him for a moment before lowering Danny back on the floor. His hands remained on Danny’s waist. “What’s going on?” Danny asked, turning to Colleen and Misty who stood next to Luke.

“You’re at Baxter Building, Iron Fist,” said a man whom Danny recognised from newspapers and television. “I’m Reed Richards," the man introduced himself needlessly. "It’s good to see you’re alright.” A woman Danny also recognised from news walked up to them. Both she and her husband were wearing their blue FF uniforms.

“Let’s get you inside the house,” Sue Storm said with a friendly smile. She and Richards led Danny and the others out to the rooftop where the two remaining members of their team were waiting.

Danny and Luke were first guided to a medical room where Richards and Sue went through a regular check-up on both of them. They found nothing wrong with Danny aside from his headache, but Luke had some broken bones that Danny hadn’t been able to heal. His legs, however, seemed to be working properly again.

Once they were cleared out, they joined Colleen and Misty who were waiting for them in a living room. Lisa Martinez was absent.

“You both gave us such a scare,” Colleen said as she hugged Danny. “Don’t you ever pull such stupid tricks again.”

“Hey, I saved our skins,” Luke said. They sat down on a couch and Luke hung his arm casually around Danny’s shoulders. Danny didn’t notice Colleen and Misty share a confused look.

“What happened?” he asked them.

“Well, we found Luke on the floor half-dead with you by his side,” Misty answered. “I tried to help with basic first-aid, but the force of the bomb had shattered his bones and his heart was giving in. Then you took over and used the Iron Fist to do something to him. We watched you work on Luke for about half an hour, not sure what to do, but then you let go and we could tell that Luke was going to be alright.”

“Half an hour?” Danny asked with a frown. That sounded longer than the process had felt.

“The Fantastic Four appeared right after you let go of Luke. They helped us get you two into the plane. The fighting had apparently stopped and Reed had a short talk with Doom after which we left. It was kind of weird. It's like they have this whole routine of dealing with each other.”

A silence followed as Danny took in the words. Luke had been able to stop the castle from falling down and Danny had been able to keep Luke from dying. Aside from some scrapes that the Fantastic Four appeared to have gotten during their staged battle, no one else had been injured.

“Where’s Martinez?” Luke asked.

“On the phone with her wife. Maria woke up at the hospital a couple of days after you disappeared.”

“What’s going to happen to Martinez?” Danny said.

“She’s going to turn herself in. I expect she’ll spend a while in prison for the stuff she stole from Stark Industries,” Misty replied. Danny wasn’t sure what to think about this. In fact, he was too tired to really think about anything. He sighed and leaned his head back against Luke’s arm.

“I want to go home,” he said quietly.

“You and me both, kid,” Luke replied and ran his hand through Danny’s hair.

 

* * *

 

Richards set up a debriefing as soon as everyone had caught their breath. Luke and Danny gave a full account of their role in the events that had led to this point. Colleen and Misty added their side of the story with the Fantastic Four filling in. Lisa Martinez sat in silence throughout the conversation, hanging her head and worrying a Nightwing Restorations business card in her hands.

“You all know my story by now,” she said once everyone else had finished. Luke stared straight at her while others seemed to avoid exactly that. “All of this is my fault and I take full responsibility. I don’t know what I can do to make this up to you.”

“No prob, lady. This is kind of what we do,” Johnny Storm said from where he was leaning on the back legs of his chair. “And any opportunity to kick Doom’s ass is just good.”

“We didn’t really kick his ass,” said Ben Grimm who sat next to Johnny. He used his foot to tip Johnny’s chair so that the youth fell backwards and onto the floor. This was followed by a loud verbal fight during which Martinez and Luke locked eyes with one another.

“Thank you for the help, Mr Cage,” she said to him. Then she turned to Danny. “Thank you, Iron Fist.”

“Anytime,” Luke said and Danny reached out to grasp Martinez’s hand.

 

Colleen and Misty left together after the debrief. Luke could tell that Richards wanted to ask Danny to stay behind, but Luke steered the kid out with him. If Richards wanted to learn more about K'un Lun and the Iron Fist, he could wait until Danny had had some rest.

Once outside, Luke started going through his clothes for a cell phone to call an Uber. Then he remembered that all of his personal belongings had been taken away when he and Danny had been kidnapped.

"Taxi?” he said.

“No money,” Danny replied, turning over the pockets of jeans that Johnny Storm had lent him. "Should we go back in and ask for a ride?"

"They offered one already. I'd feel stupid going back after refusing once."

“At least the weather's nice." Without thinking, Luke took Danny’s hand into his own and they started walking.

It began raining immediately after that.

 

They arrived to the Gem, wet and hands still linked. It was getting late, but DW was up and at the lobby. He was so focused on comics that he was reading that it took him a while to notice Danny and Luke. Once he did, he jumped up from his chair and ran to them. He touched Luke’s arm, almost as if to make sure he really was there. 

No one spoke for a moment. Then DW pointed at the soda machine behind him.

“It broke down yesterday,” he said. This seemed to be an inside joke of some sort as Luke started laughing loudly. DW turned to Danny and gave him a bright smile which Danny returned.

“It’s been a long… several days,” Luke said to DW once he had stopped laughing. “I’ll tell you more in the morning, alright?”

“Alright."

“Good to be back home, though,” Luke added and used the hand that didn’t hold Danny’s to pat DW on the back.

Luke and Danny walked up to Luke’s studio. Being without a key, Luke simply broke the lock and let them in. The air inside was stuffy and they opened a window. Noises of the New York night filled the room and they stood there listening until it got cold and they closed the window again.

Luke took Danny to the bathroom with a kitchen chair. He made Danny take off his shirt and sit down. Then he picked up a pair of scissors. He smoothed down Danny's hair, even curlier than usual due to the rain outside, and brought the scissors to Danny’s neck and started cutting the hair.

Danny watched their reflection in the mirror as Luke worked. His hair really had gotten wild. Luke stopped to rub his scalp every now and then before getting back to work. Neither spoke.

Once he was done, Luke turned Danny’s head to different angles to look at the hair from all sides. Then he patted Danny’s shoulder and guided him towards the shower.

“You know we both stink like hell?” he said and left the bathroom. Danny took off the rest of the clothes he had been given at Baxter Building and turned the shower on. Warm water wiped away the sweat and the dirt along with troubled thoughts. Danny stayed under the shower far longer than was necessary.

When he was finally done, he used the scissors to trim his beard which had also started to grow. Then he put on the loaned boxers and undershirt and left the bathroom. He found Luke on the bed, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. Danny looked between the bed and the couch uncertainly. Luke noticed this and nodded his head. Danny climbed onto the bed.

They lay next to each other on their backs until Danny slowly turned to his side to face Luke. He closed the gap between them and carefully put his hand onto Luke’s chest, feeling it rise and fall.

“Still alive,” Luke said, seemingly reading Danny's thoughts. Luke’s still body and slowing heartbeat were still fresh in Danny’s mind.

“You know you still stink?” Danny whispered as he pulled his hand back.

“I’ll have a shower in the morning.” Luke mumbled back.

“And a shave?”

“I kinda like the beard myself.”

“It’s alright.”

“Just alright?”

“I need to get used to it.”

“Okay.”

They were quiet for a long time after that. Then Danny's body started shaking with silent laughter. Luke raised his head questioningly. 

"I've been through a lot of weird stuff in my life," Danny explained, "but wearing the underwear of a member of the Fantastic Four feels pretty damn weird."

"Hey, at least they had enough clothes of your size."

"I wonder if Human Torch wants these back."

"I'd prefer not to think about that."

"I know, me neither."

"You're a strange one, you know that, kid?"

"I know."

Danny fell asleep to the sound of Luke’s heavy breathing.

 

* * *

 

_Five days later_

  
They were in the middle of a movie when the doorbell rang. Danny looked confused and Luke guessed that the kid’s only visitors tended to be either Luke or Colleen, neither of whom bothered with the bell. They went to answer the door together.

“May we come in?”

Danny and Luke stepped aside and Lisa and Maria Martinez walked in. How the couple had found Danny’s home address, Luke didn’t know nor really care. Danny took them to the kitchen and put a pot of tea on as they all took places around the table.

“We’re glad to see you're back on your feet,” Luke said to Maria Martinez once the tea was ready and served. 

“Thank you, Mr Cage. We are very grateful for everything you did for us,” she said with a Spanish accent.

“This is most likely my last day in freedom for a year or so,” Lisa Martinez cut in with a matter-of-fact tone. “We’re here to thank you and to fulfill my part of our deal.” She pulled a check out of her purse and slid it over the table to Luke and Danny.

“Mrs Martinez, you don’t have to-“ Danny started, but Martinez held her hand up.

“I hired you heroes to solve this case and now it’s been solved. You deserve this for everything you went through because of me.”

Danny tried to slide the check back to Martinez, but the woman stood up with her wife following after her.

“I hope you can forgive me for everything. I didn’t mean for anybody to suffer because of my idiocy.”

“Mrs Martinez,” Danny said, but didn’t seem to know how to continue. 

“We’ll let ourselves out. I wish you all the best,” Martinez said and walked over to shake their hands. It felt very impersonal until she looked up at the two of them and gave them a small smile. Then she and Maria walked out of the room. Luke heard the front door open and close.

“So..?” Danny said and picked up the check. He handed it to Luke.

Luke pocketed the check and shrugged his shoulders. They would either cash it or not. That didn’t matter right now. Right now, all Luke wanted was to lie on the couch with Danny, watch bad movies and listen to the kid laugh at wrong places.

“You know,” Danny said carefully as they made their way back to the living room, “we _do_ make quite a team.”

“We got screwed over and kidnapped and had to be saved by our friends and a group of other superheroes. What part of that makes us a good team?”

“You're right,” Danny said. Luke expected something more, but Danny simply took his hand and they sat down on the couch. He rested his head on Luke's shoulder and put the movie back on.

Luke didn’t know what to make of the two of them. Neither as a team nor as friends. But if he had to be abducted by an evil genius and held prisoner in another country with someone, he’d like that someone to be Danny. And who knew? Maybe their next case would not involve getting kidnapped. Luke touched the check in his pocket.

Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a possibility of a follow-up story, but that remains to be seen. Let me know what you thought of this one! <3


End file.
